Quad says condemns North Korea's missile launches, opposes 'coercive' economic policies

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi during a press conference of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) foreign ministers in Melbourne, Australia, February 11, 2022. Sandra Sanders/Pool via REUTERS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Quad countries -- an informal grouping of Australia, Japan, India and the United States -- on Friday condemned North Korea's "destabilising" ballistic missile launches and reaffirmed their commitment to the country's complete denuclearisation.

In a statement, the four countries also said they reaffirmed their commitment to upholding and strengthening the "rules-based" multilateral trading system and to opposing "coercive economic policies" that run counter to this.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham and Humeyra Pamuk; editing by Philippa Fletcher)