WASHINGTON -- The world's five recognized nuclear weapons states denounced North Korea's fifth nuclear test, calling for a complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council or "P5" nations held a two-day meeting in Washington and issued a joint statement condemning the North's Sept. 9 nuclear test and its continued ballistic missile launches, saying such tests violate U.N. resolutions.

"The P5 reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in North-East Asia at large.

The P5 reaffirmed their commitment to the full implementation of the 2005 Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks," the statement said, referring to a denuclearization deal in which the North agreed to dismantle its nuclear programs in exchange for economic and political concessions.

The statement also urged the North "to respond to diplomatic efforts aimed at the eventual resumption of the Six-Party Talks and achieving complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner."

"They stressed the importance of working to reduce tensions in the Korean Peninsula," it said. (Yonhap)