South Korean nuclear envoy discusses North Korea's missile launches with US, Japanese officials

South Korea's chief nuclear envoy discussed North Korea's latest missile launches with a senior U.S. official and his Japanese counterpart in separate phone talks on Thursday, the foreign ministry said.

Noh Kyu-duk, the chief nuclear negotiator, spoke with Sung Kim, acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, earlier in the day, the ministry said, hours after the North fired what appeared to be two ballistic missiles into the East Sea.

He then had a phone conversation with Takehiro Funakoshi, director-general for Asian and Oceanian affairs at Tokyo's foreign ministry.

Noh and Kim shared their concerns over North Korea's launches of short-range missiles and exchanged assessments on the recent Korean Peninsula situation, the ministry said in a release.

“While managing the situation in a stable manner, the two countries agreed to continue coordination to bring substantive progress toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and building lasting peace,” it added.

Noh and Funakoshi agreed to continue close communication and cooperation on North Korea's nuclear issues between the two countries, and also trilaterally with the U.S., the ministry said.

The latest launches came four days after the North fired two cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea.

The launches also came as the U.S. administration of President Joe Biden said it was in the final stage of reviewing its policy on North Korea. The U.S. is due to host a meeting of national security advisers with South Korea and Japan next week.

The official said that Washington is keeping a close eye on the situation with “alertness.”

Asked about the possibility of any action by the U.N. Security Council (UNSC), the official said it is unlikely the UNSC will take steps toward a fresh resolution or sanctions given that the projectiles were short-range.

North Korea is banned from launching ballistic missiles under the UNSC resolutions, though Pyongyang has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile testing since late 2017.

Seoul stressed that it is coordinating closely with Washington and other related countries over the matter.

“We express deep concerns over North Korea's launch of short-range missiles this morning,” ministry spokesperson Choi Young-sam said in a press briefing. “Our ministry will step up consultations with related countries about the future response, based on our close Korea-U.S. coordination,” he said. (Yonhap)