The vice foreign ministers of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan held phone talks Thursday and discussed North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launches.
Seoul’s foreign ministry said first vice minister Cho Hyun-dong talked on the phone with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts Wendy Sherman and Takeo Mori.
The three sides strongly condemned the North’s missile tests carried out on Wednesday as a flagrant violation of multiple UN Security Council(UNSC) resolutions and a serious provocation that threatens peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and around the world.
They called for a stern and unified response from the international community and agreed to step up trilateral communication and cooperation, including at the UNSC.
The three diplomats also shared concerns over North Korea’s suspected COVID-19 outbreak. Seoul and Washington in particular reaffirmed their willingness to provide humanitarian support, according to the ministry.
The three sides also assessed that U.S. President Joe Biden’s trips to Seoul and Tokyo underscored the importance of trilateral coordination on issues affecting the Korean Peninsula, the region and the world. They also agreed to continue cooperating on security matters.
The vice ministers also plan to hold a face-to-face meeting in Seoul in the near future for extensive talks on issues of mutual concern.
Source: KBS World Radio