Tensions between Tokyo and Beijing also remain high over disputed East China Sea islands, while China and South Korea also have frayed recently after Seoul approved the deployment of a USA missile defense system against North Korea’s threats that Beijing says will harm its security.
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While South Korean military expects North Korea to be able to ready SLBMs for combat use within two to three years, some experts believe that the latest launch could enable the reclusive nation to make a similar deployment as early as 2017.
Markets were steady following the submarine launch of a ballistic missile by North Korea.
“We sternly take North Korea’s SLBM test-launch as a serious challenge to the peninsular’s security and a violation of the UN Security Council Resolution”, the JCS said.
“UN Security Council’s resolutions”, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told a news conference after hosting a trilateral meeting with his Chinese and South Korean counterparts.
The missile test came at a time of major military drills involving tens of thousands of US and South Korean troops in the South.
The worst-case scenario would be for the North to master the technology needed to miniaturize a nuclear warhead small enough to mount on top of a SLBM.
It said it would “sternly and strongly respond to any provocation by North Korea”.
Wednesday’s early morning launch appears to have been its most successful test yet of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).
The summit is also expected to pave the way for a meeting between the Japanese Prime Minister and the Chinese president on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, between the 4th and 5th of September.
Kishida said the launch was “absolutely unacceptable” in his opening remarks, adding that the three countries should closely cooperate and lead the global effort to deal with North Korea.
On Sunday the Unification Ministry in Seoul urged all citizens to be on guard against possible North Korean assassination attempts on defectors and anti-Pyongyang activists in the South.
“The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America”, STRATCOM said in a statement.
North Korea on Tuesday requested a meeting of the U.N. Security Council over the U.S.
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”.
The launch also comes at a time of intensified animosities between the rival Koreas over the defection of a senior North Korean diplomat in London and a USA plan to install a sophisticated missile defense system in South Korea.
Meanwhile, China, Pyongyang’s closest ally, said that North Korean missile tests have expanded since the bilateral decision between Seoul and Washington to deploy THAAD.
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The missile is presumed to be a KN-11, said Navy Cmdr.
