SEOUL– The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan condemned North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday, labelling it as a grave threat to the peace of the two nations and the world.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi held a phone call after North Korea fired an ICBM, presumed to be a Hwasong-17 known to be capable of carrying multiple warheads and flying around 15,000 kilometers, long enough to cover the entire U.S. mainland.

During the phone call, Park said that the ICBM launch and the missile’s landing near Japanese waters constitute a grave threat to the peace and stability of South Korea and Japan as well as the global community, the foreign ministry here said.

The two ministers also stressed that the global community should sternly and squarely respond to the latest launch with action from the United Nations Security Council,

The more North Korea continues provocations, the stronger the security cooperation of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan will become, the two ministers said, urging the country to stop provocations and return to dialogue.

Source: Yonhap News Agency