US, Japan ask North Korea to halt missile tests
(VOVWORLD) - The US and Japan have agreed that North Korea’s recent missile tests are unnecessarily provocative, and do not set the stage for diplomacy and that North Korea should cease these tests.
 The new type Pukkuksong-3 missile is tested from the waters off Wonsan Bay on North Korea’s east coast on October 2, 2019. (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters at a briefing Thursday that US Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Japanese Minister of Defense Taro Kono discussed by phone North’s missile launch.
Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the missile test was a short-to-medium-range ballistic missile that was fired from an undersea platform. The missile flew about 450 km and landed in the sea.
On Wednesday, North Korea tested a ballistic missile that was designed to be launched from a submarine. This is Pyongyang’s 11th test since the beginning of this year.
The test took place less than a day after North Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son-Hui said his country and the US agreed to hold a preliminary meeting on Friday, followed by expert-level talks on Saturday.
President Donald Trump said the US still plans to hold another summit with Pyongyang.
A North Korean delegation has arrived in Stockholm, Sweden, where the upcoming expert-level meeting will be held.