America, Japan and South Korea agree on a unified position on Pyongyang's missile tests

A Japanese Foreign Ministry official held separate phone conversations with his counterparts in the United States and South Korea about North Korea's repeated launches of ballistic missiles.

Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that the head of the Foreign Ministry's Bureau of Asian and Oceanic Affairs spoke over the phone with the US special representative for North Korea affairs, and also held talks with the South Korean special representative for peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.

The three officials agreed that North Korea's repeated ballistic missile launches since late last month and early Sunday morning pose an urgent threat to regional security and poses a serious challenge to the international community.

During their phone call, the officials stressed that the three countries will continue to work closely together to strengthen deterrence in the region and the complete denuclearization of North Korea.

North Korea had launched two short-range ballistic missiles, which was confirmed by the South Korean army, which said in a statement that it had detected two ballistic missiles during the night that traveled nearly 350 kilometers and reached an altitude of 50 kilometers.

It is the eighth time that North Korea has launched ballistic missiles within two weeks, according to the French press agency, which was defended by Pyongyang, stressing that it was a "legitimate response" to "direct US military threats", while the United States, Japan and South Korea considered it a "threat". a threat to peace and security."

On Saturday, Pyongyang issued a statement saying that it was "closely following the very worrying development of the current situation," referring to the deployment of the USS Ronald Reagan during joint US-South Korean exercises this week.

The maneuvers angered Pyongyang, which it considered a rehearsal for an invasion, and the North's official Korean Central News Agency said the maneuvers were "provocative and very dangerous."

The United Nations Civil Aviation Organization has said North Korean launches pose a threat to civil aviation.