Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yun Seok Yeol plan to discuss the issue of nuclear disarmament of the DPRK at the upcoming Tokyo summit. This was announced on Thursday, March 16, by Hirokazu Matsuno, Secretary General of the Japanese government.
“Today at the summit meeting between the leaders of Japan and the Republic of Korea, we want to confirm the cooperation of Japan and South Korea, as well as Japan-South Korea-US for the complete denuclearization of North Korea,” he said.
According to Matsuno, North Korean missile launches are “unacceptable” because they threaten the security of Japan and the entire Asia-Pacific region.
Earlier in the day, Tokyo protested to Pyongyang over the after-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Japan’s defense ministry has been ordered by the prime minister to be on high alert. The head of the Defense Ministry, Yasukazu Hamada, in turn, ordered to cooperate with the United States and other countries in the collection and analysis of information.
On Thursday, the Japanese Coast Guard announced that North Korea had launched what is believed to be a ballistic missile towards the Sea of Japan. Information about the missile launch of the DPRK was also confirmed by the South Korean military.
According to the Ministry of Defense of Japan, the missile fell 550 km east of the Korean Peninsula, outside the country’s exclusive economic zone. At the office of Prime Minister Kishida, an emergency headquarters was set up to collect information about the launch.
Prior to this, on March 14, the Yonhap news agency reported that the DPRK had launched one ballistic missile. Later information appeared that there were two missiles. They were launched from the Changyong district of Hwanghae-namdo province towards the Sea of Japan.
On January 31, the US and South Korean defense chiefs released a joint statement agreeing to expand joint exercises in 2023. The parties agreed to strengthen their cooperation in the exchange of data regarding the missile threat posed by North Korea.
