The Japanese and US foreign ministers have denounced North Korea's repeated launches of ballistic missiles and agreed to work together to reinforce the deterrence capabilities of the Japan-US alliance.

Japan's Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken briefly discussed the issue on Thursday at a G7 ministerial-level meeting in Germany.

They condemned Pyongyang for the unprecedented methods and frequency of the launches, calling them a provocative act.

They said the launches are a grave and imminent threat to regional security and pose a clear and serious challenge to the international community.

Hayashi and Blinken reconfirmed the importance of boosting the Japan-US alliance's deterrence and response capabilities.

They noted that the two countries aim to achieve the complete denuclearization of North Korea by implementing Security Council resolutions. They agreed to continue working closely together to increase regional deterrence capabilities and responses at the UN Security Council for that purpose.