S. Korea, US, Japan discuss N. Korea's missile launches in phone talks

Seoul, Sep 12 (IANS) Nuclear envoys of South Korea, the US and Japan on Thursday discussed over the phone North Korea's latest firing of short-range ballistic missiles, Seoul's foreign ministry said.

The phone talks came hours after the North fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea, in an apparent protest against the joint Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise conducted by the militaries of the South and the US, Yonhap news agency reported.

Lee Jun-il, director general for Korean Peninsula policy, shared the assessments of the North's latest missile launch with his US and Japanese counterparts, Seth Bailey and Akihiro Okochi, respectively, the ministry said in a release.

The three sides condemned the missile launch as a clear violation of the UN Security Council resolutions banning Pyongyang from any such launches and agreed it poses a serious threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.

They agreed to continue close coordination in their response against the North's provocations based on the strong South Korea-US alliance and the trilateral partnership involving Japan, the ministry said.

North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday, the South Korean military said, the first such launch since July 1.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the missiles fired off from the Pyongyang area at 7.10 a.m. It did not provide further details, such as how many missiles were fired and how far they flew.

"Our military has ramped up monitoring and vigilance against additional launches, while closely sharing information related to North Korean ballistic missiles with the US and Japanese authorities," the JCS said in a text message to reporters.

On July 1, the North fired two ballistic missiles. One of them was short-range, while the other failed and fell inland.

The latest launches came after North Korea said last week that the South and the US will have to pay a "dear price" for what it called "provocative war" drills after the two countries carried out the joint summertime exercise Ulchi Freedom Shield.

The North has long denounced joint military drills between South Korea and the US as rehearsals for an invasion and used them as a pretext for provocations. The allies have said their military exercises are defensive in nature.

Thursday's launch also came after North Korea reportedly resumed its trash balloon campaign last week after a near monthlong halt, sending balloons containing scrap paper and plastic bottles toward the South for five consecutive days.

North Korea has sent thousands of balloons carrying trash into the South since late May in retaliation against anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent across the border by North Korean defectors and activists in South Korea.

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