U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, center, and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong reach out for a fist bump with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi at the end of a joint press availability following their meeting in Honolulu, Feb. 12. AP-Yonhap

South Korea, the United States and Japan demonstrated a united front against North Korea's provocations via trilateral talks among their top diplomats in Honolulu, Saturday.

Experts, in general, gave a positive assessment of the high-level session among the regional powers meant to find ways to engage with North Korea, especially its timing, despite no immediate breakthrough in sight.

"Such a meeting is always good to exchange views considering there is a high probability North Korea will continue to test more missiles ― and maybe even an ICBM ― between now and April," said Harry Kazianis, senior director at the Washington-based Center for the National Interest think tank.

The trilateral event among South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi followed seven North Korean missile launches in January, the largest number of such tests conducted by the North in a single month.

Pyongyang has also threatened to consider restarting "all temporarily-suspended activities," possibly suggesting a resumption of its nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile testing.

The North has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear weapons and long-range missile testing since late 2017.

Frank Aum, a senior expert on Northeast Asia at the U.S. Institute of Peace, agreed the meeting may have been useful but that little progress would have been possible on how to engage with North Korea.

"The meeting will be helpful to convey trilateral unity and strengthen trilateral coordination," he told Yonhap News Agency.

"However, since Washington and Tokyo are not on the same page with Seoul on North Korea policy and since Tokyo and Seoul are still far apart on historical issues, there may be very little tangible outcomes from the meeting," Aum added.

Kazianis too highlighted the importance of cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the U.S., saying, "All of the allies must be on the same page but also see if there is some way to create an atmosphere to get the DPRK to take a different path."

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

The North Korean military conducts a missile test from a railway car, Jan. 14, in this photo provided the following day by the North Korean government. AP-Yonhap

The North has shunned denuclearization negotiations since late 2019. It also remains utterly unresponsive to numerous overtures made by the U.S. since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.

Chung earlier said he and his U.S., Japanese counterparts will discuss ways to engage with North Korea.