SEOUL/JAKARTA Dec. 13 (Yonhap) -- The top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan had a trilateral meeting in Jakarta on Tuesday amid speculation that North Korea may carry out another nuclear test in line with its continued provocative acts highlighted by the firing of more than 60 ballistic missiles this year.

Seoul's chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Gunn, met with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi, respectively, at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta. He is also scheduled to have a separate bilateral meeting with Funakoshi later in the day. They had such a trilateral session in Tokyo in September.

The officials are expected to share their assessments on regional security and discuss ways to bring Pyongyang back to dialogue as well as additional sanctions in case of its seventh nuclear test.

This file photo shows Kim Gunn (R), South Korea's top nuclear envoy, posing for a photo with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim (L) and Takehiro Funakoshi, respectively, at the Japanese foreign ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 7, 2022. (Yonhap)

The European Union, meanwhile, announced new sanctions on eight North Korean individuals and four institutions involved in the secretive Kim Jong-un regime's nuclear and missile development programs.