Tokyo, 19 February, /AJMEDIA/
The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States and South Korea on Saturday “strongly condemned” North Korea’s latest firing of an ICBM-class missile, pledging to work closely together to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
At their meeting in Munich, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his U.S. and South Korean counterparts, Antony Blinken and Park Jin, shared the view that Pyongyang’s “repeated ballistic missile launches at an unprecedented pace pose a grave and imminent threat” to regional security, according to the ministry.
The trilateral talks were held after North Korea fired a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile earlier on Saturday. It fell into the Sea of Japan over 200 kilometers west of Hokkaido in northern Japan, within the country’s exclusive economic zone, according to the Japanese government.
It was the first ballistic missile test by the North since Jan 1. The country launched various types of missiles on a record 37 occasions in 2022, and fears linger that the nation may conduct what would be its seventh nuclear test.
The three top diplomats vowed to beef up trilateral security cooperation toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions, the Japanese ministry said.
After the trilateral talks, Hayashi and Park met bilaterally and agreed to cooperate in dealing with various challenges facing the international community, including Pyongyang’s missile launches.
The two also confirmed that the two East Asian nations will maintain close communication as they work toward an “early settlement” of the issue of compensation demands from South Koreans over alleged forced labor during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, according to the ministry.
‘Surprise drill’
Meanwhile, North Korea said Sunday it conducted the previous day a “surprise” drill of the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile on a lofted trajectory amid military threats from the United States and South Korea, according to state-run media.
The missile firing Saturday afternoon from Pyongyang International Airport proved the “sure reliability of our powerful physical nuclear deterrent,” the official Korean Central News Agency said.
Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, criticized the United States and South Korea for “destroying the stability of the region” and warned in a statement that Pyongyang will “take corresponding and very powerful and overwhelming counteraction” against every hostile move.
KCNA said the missile flew 989 kilometers for 66 minutes and 55 seconds, reaching a maximum altitude of 5,768.5 km, before accurately hitting a pre-set area in open waters of the Sea of Japan.
The drill was “suddenly organized without previous notice” under an emergency firepower combat standby order and a written order signed by Kim Jong Un, the news agency said.
The exercise involved the First Red Flag Hero Company under the Missile General Bureau, with the company getting an “excellent mark” in the assessment of the launch, it said.
North Korea last fired the Hwasong-15 missile in 2017. In November last year, it launched the new Hwasong-17 ICBM, which also likely fell into Japan’s EEZ.
Kim Yo Jong, who serves as a senior official of the North’s ruling party, also said in the statement that her country still has “no intention to stand face to face” with South Korea, saying, “We tell its fools that our ICBM will not be aimed at Seoul.”
South Korea “had better think of the consequences to be entailed by its reckless acts,” she warned.
Pyongyang has repeatedly criticized South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, known for his hardline stance on North Korea, since his inauguration last May, rejecting his offer of aid in exchange for the North taking denuclearization steps.
