The Korean and Syrian crises will be high on the agenda when foreign ministers from the G8 group of nations hold talks in London on Thursday, April 11, according to BBC News.
Ministers agree that the combination of warlike threats from North Korea and preparations for new missile tests amount to dangerous provocation.
"There is no disagreement with the United States over North Korea," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in London on Wednesday.
South Korea has raised its alert level amid indications that the North is preparing for a missile test. Pyongyang has moved two Musudan missiles to its east coast. The ballistic missiles have an estimated 3,000km (2,000-mile) range.
North Korea has increased its fiery rhetoric following fresh UN sanctions imposed after its third nuclear test and joint military maneuvers by the U.S. and South Korea.
The North says it will restart a mothballed nuclear reactor, has shut an emergency military hotline to the South and has urged countries to withdraw diplomatic staff, saying it cannot now guarantee their safety.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been among those calling for calm on the peninsula.
The G8 ministers met Syrian opposition figures on Wednesday on the sidelines of the two-day forum.
Syria divides the G8 and no-one expects Russia to join others backing punitive action against President Bashar al-Assad. Fresh evidence of links between some opposition fighters and al-Qaeda makes it even harder for governments to decide a course of action.
In a meeting with ministers on Wednesday, leaders of the opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) reportedly pressed for more humanitarian assistance.
Kerry, however, stressed the importance of the opposition becoming better organized, a senior U.S. official told reporters.
In a statement issued after the talks, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain was committed to finding a political solution to the crisis.
"We discussed what further assistance the UK could provide to save lives in Syria, and how we could work together to ensure this support was channeled most effectively," he said.
The Group of Eight nations comprises the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia.
Britain currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the G8 and the talks are a prelude to the annual G8 summit later this year in Northern Ireland.
