Seoul - North Korea's missile programme represents a serious threat to world security because Pyongyang could link it with its nuclear programme, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung Hwan said Wednesday.

He also warned the North that it faced international sanctions if it again carries out a launch.

Seoul  - The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan, Yu Myung Hwan and Hirofumi Nakasone, Wednesday urged communist North Korea to stop its belligerent posturing to defuse international tensions.

The latest in Pyongyang's series of sharply worded threats had created new tension and was not helpful, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement after a meeting between Yu and Nakasone in Seoul.