In a statement, the United States said it “strongly condemns” the multiple launches, which came at a potentially embarrassing time for North Korea’s only real ally, China, which is now hosting the G20 summit in Hangzhou.
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“The United States strongly condemns North Korea’s launch of three ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan”.
China is North Korea’s only major ally, but ties between the neighbors have frayed amid a string of North Korean nuclear and missile tests and what many outsiders see as other provocations in recent years.
The launches came on the final day of the Group of 20 summit meeting, where the president of South Korea urged the North’s traditional allies, China and Russian Federation, to help persuade it to end such provocations. Similarly, Beijing maintains the view that the implementation of this project will cause tensions in the southern part of the Korean peninsula, instead of deterring the alleged nuclear and missile threat by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the main reason given by Seoul to justify the deployment of the system in its territory.
The BBC says that North Korea launched three ballistic missiles that landed inside Japan’s air defense zone.
The North fired three Rodong medium-range missiles off its east coast earlier Monday. President Barack Obama was to head to Laos on Monday evening.
The missile launches were the latest in a series by the isolated North this year in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, supported by China, that ban all ballistic missile-related activities by the North.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approached Park during a coffee break at the G-20 and agreed to cooperate closely, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry. But the test could strengthen the case in South Korea for deployment of a new USA missile defence system.
The AP notes that Chinese President Xi Jinping has been attempting to persuade Park to abandon the plan – China sees it as a USA spying effort.
During their meeting, Xi warned Park that “mishandling the issue is not conducive to strategic stability in the region, and could intensify disputes”.
“Our commitment to the defense of our allies in the face of these threats remains ironclad”, Kirby added in a reference to US treaty allies South Korea and Japan.
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It has received no reports of damage from the North Korean missiles.
