“We have confirmed that we will urge North Korea to exercise self-restraint regarding its provocative action, and to observe the UN Security Council’s resolutions”, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told a news conference after hosting the meeting with his Chinese and South Korean counterparts.
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South Korean officials said on Wednesday that a ballistic missile fired from a North Korean submarine near the coastal town of Sinpo traveled more than 300 miles before landing in the Sea of Japan, in what would be the longest distance achieved by the North in missile tests to date.
South Korean Culture Minister Kim Jong-deok is to attend a culture ministers’ conference this weekend with his counterparts from China and Japan on the southern island of Jejudo this weekend, the government said August 24.
The Korean Central Television also aired a 107-second footage of the launch, featuring the missile soaring into the air from the water, with a thundering noise, from various angles, as well as some other 60 related images.
The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said Pyongyang still faces significant technological challenges including building a new class of submarine to carry the missile.
The North’s acquiring the ability to launch missiles from submarines would be an alarming development because missiles fired from submerged vessels are harder to detect in advance.
Wednesday’s launch came two days after the USA and South Korea began their 12-day Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises, prompting DPRK threats of retaliation for the military drills, which it views as an invasion rehearsal.
It also said that the test showed that North Korea was making “progress” after several failed tests of what they call submarine-launched ballistic missiles, or SLBMs. South Korea and Japan have a territorial dispute over small islands about half way between their mainlands.
The United Nations Security Council was holding emergency closed consultations on the launch late Wednesday afternoon at the request of the United States and Japan.
Regarding the scheduled visit of South Korean President Park Geun Hye to China on September 4 and 5 for the G20 Summit, Wang said that the President is very much welcome in his country.
According to South Korea’s military, the missile was sacked from a submarine submerged off the northeastern port of Sinpo.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry condemned the launch and warned of more sanctions and isolation for its rival that “will only speed up its self-destruction”.
In this undated photo distributed on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016, by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, visits the site of a submarine-launched missile test at an un.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency cited a military source as saying Wednesday’s launch had been made at an acute angle to limit the missile’s range.
Tal Inbar, an Israeli missile expert, described the latest test as “a further step in the missile diplomacy of Kim Jong Un”.
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“The operational zones of the United States mainland and the Pacific are now firmly in our hands”, Kim said, according to state media.
