TOKYO —
Senior diplomats from Japan, the USA and South Korea gathered Tuesday in Tokyo to debate North Korea’s missile and nuclear growth a day after Pyongyang introduced it efficiently examined new long-range cruise missiles, suggesting development of its army capabilities.
The three-way assembly included U.S. Particular Consultant for North Korea Coverage Sung Kim, South Korea’s Particular Consultant for Korean Peninsula Peace and Safety Affairs Noh Kyu-duk and Japan’s Director-Common for Asian and Oceanian affairs Takehiro Funakoshi.
Japanese International Minister Toshimitsu Motegi advised an everyday information convention Tuesday that the trilateral assembly had been scheduled earlier than North Korea’s test-firing of the missiles, however the assembly the day after could be a “good event to reconfirm shut cooperation among the many three nations and focus on the most recent North Korean scenario.”
Japanese officers and a few consultants stated North Korea’s weekend missile test-firing was a “new menace” to the area.
On Monday, the state-run Korean Central Information Company reported that the missiles confirmed they will hit targets 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) away.
The North hailed its new missiles as a “strategic weapon of nice significance,” suggesting that they have been developed with the intent to arm them with nuclear warheads. North Korea says it wants nuclear weapons with the intention to deter what it claims is hostility from Washington and Seoul.
Japan and South Korea are separate key allies for the U.S. presence within the Asia-Pacific area.
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Related Press author Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
