South Korea, the United States, and Japan are concerned about North Korea's launch of a short-range ballistic missile, presumed to be an SLBM or submarine-launched ballistic missile, and have agreed that North Korea must come out of dialogue as soon as possible.
While visiting the United States, Head of the Korean Peninsula Peace Negotiation Headquarters, Noh Kyu-deok, had a meeting with U.S. State Department Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim and Japanese Foreign Ministry Asia and Oceania Bureau Director Funakoshi Takehiro and South Korea-U.S.-Japan Trilateral Nuclear Representatives.
After the consultation, General Noh Gyu-deok met with correspondents and said, "We agreed that maintaining the stability of the situation on the Korean Peninsula is very important, and while closely monitoring the situation in the future, we have decided to maintain close cooperation for the early restart of the peace process on the Korean Peninsula." said.
The U.S. State Department also issued a statement, saying, "At today's consultations, we held specific discussions on the situation on the Korean Peninsula and reaffirmed the promise of the three countries to cooperate to ease tensions and make progress toward the common goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
"President Sung Kim emphasized the US condemnation of North Korea's ballistic missile launch in violation of a number of UN Security Council resolutions," the State Department added. .
Japan's Kyodo News Agency also reported that the three countries shared concerns about North Korea's missile test and agreed to pursue diplomacy with the North, citing government sources.
(Photo = provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yonhap News)