National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik held a videoconference with his Japanese counterpart for discussions in response to advancing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea and its illegal military cooperation with Russia.

According to the presidential office on Wednesday, Shin and Masataka Okano, head of Japan's National Security Secretariat(NSS), reaffirmed the importance of continuing bilateral coordination and within a three-way framework with the U.S. in handling the current grave security situation.

The two sides agreed to make an effort to continue cooperation in various areas, as they mark the 60th anniversary of normalization in bilateral ties this year.

Shin and Okano also agreed to continue close communication regarding the North's human rights abuses, including issues surrounding Korean and Japanese abductees, detainees and prisoners of war.

The latest talks were the first high-level engagement between South Korea's National Security Office and the Japanese government since the short-lived December 3 martial law declaration.