Nuclear envoys of S. Korea, U.S., Japan condemn N. Korea’s missile launch

SEOUL, The top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan held talks Tuesday and condemned North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch, the foreign ministry said. Earlier in the day, North Korea fired what appeared to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) into the East Sea, according to the South Korean military. Lee Jun-il, director general for North Korean nuclear affairs at the ministry, discussed the North's latest provocation with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Jung Pak and Hamamoto Yukiya, respectively, the ministry said. The envoys denounced the launch as an overt provocation that seriously threatens the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the region, and a violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. The three also agreed on the need to step up trilateral coordination to lead the international community in taking a united response against North Korea. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message to reporters that it detected a missile pre sumed to be intermediate-range class fired from the Pyongyang region at 6:53 a.m. and the missile flew about 600 kilometers before splashing into the East Sea. Tuesday's launch marks North Korea's third ballistic missile launch this year. Source: Yonhap News Agency