The chief nuclear negotiators of South Korea, the United States and Japan jointly condemned North Korea's recent missile launch and agreed to respond in a strict manner, the foreign ministry here said Monday.
Kim Hong-kyun, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held separate phone conversations with his US and Japanese counterparts Joseph Yun and Kenji Kanasugi on Sunday evening right after North Korea's missile test, according to the ministry.
(Yonhap)
The officials "strongly" condemned the North Korean test which came only one week after its last launch of a ballistic missile on May 14, the ministry said.
It came despite the international community's "increasing expectations" for peace and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula following the start of a new administration in South Korea and its dispatch of special envoys to the US, Japan and China, the ministry quoted the chief negotiators as saying.
They also agreed to "react to the latest provocation in a resolute manner" through steps including those at the United Nations Security Council, it said.
On Sunday afternoon, North Korea fired off a ballistic missile from the vicinity of Pukchang in the country's western province, which flew about 500 kilometers. It was the eighth ballistic missile launch by the North this year. (Yonhap)