By Chris Muhizi for MCN.
In a joint statement on Friday, the United States, South Korea, and Japan condemned North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), calling it a violation of numerous U.N. resolutions and a danger to regional peace and stability.
According to Japan, the Wednesday missile launch off the east coast of North Korea completed the longest-ever flight time for a North Korean missile, lasting 74 minutes to reach an altitude of 6,000 km (3,728 miles) and a range of 1,000 kilometers.
The senior foreign officials of the United States, South Korea, and Japan stated in a joint statement that “this constitutes a clear, flagrant violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions and poses a grave threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.”
The statement further stated that the nations urged North Korea “to cease its illegal and escalatory actions and promptly resume dialogue.”
On Friday in Jakarta, Indonesia, the officials — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin — met off-site at the ASEAN Regional Forum.
The launch comes after North Korea made harsh allegations in recent days, accusing American spy planes of hovering over its exclusive economic zone waters, denouncing an American nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine’s recent visit to South Korea, and pledging to take measures in response.
In that discussion, Blinken reaffirmed America’s “ironclad commitments” to defending South Korea and Japan, the U.S. State Department said in a separate statement.
The three nations’ determination to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be strengthened by North Korea’s “continued development of its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities,” according to a joint statement issued after the summit.
Source: Reuters