The foreign ministers of Japan and Finland agreed Wednesday to work together in tackling North Korea's development of nuclear weapons, including through the full implementation of U.N. sanctions.

"I want us to closely coordinate with each other to deal with North Korea and other international challenges," Foreign Minister Taro Kono said during joint comments to the press ahead of a dinner meeting with Finnish counterpart Timo Soini.

Soini said North Korea's "actions cannot be accepted," and Japan and Finland will face international issues together as democracies that believe in multilateral cooperation and the rule of law.