Senior diplomats of S. Korea, US, Japan hold phone talks over NK missile provocations

South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong, left, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori, center, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman attend a joint press conference at the Iikura Guest House in Tokyo, Oct. 26. Yonhap

Senior diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan strongly condemned North Korea's latest missile launches in their phone talks Monday, calling them a "serious threat" to the security of the Korean Peninsula and beyond, according to Seoul's foreign ministry.

Last week, the North launched a barrage of ballistic missiles into the East Sea and the Yellow Sea, including an intercontinental ballistic missile, apparently in protest against a South Korea-U.S. joint air force drill called "Vigilant Storm."

In their consultations, First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong and his American and Japanese counterparts ― Wendy Sherman and Takeo Mori, respectively ― pointed out the North's recent ballistic missile launches were in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, and posed a serious threat to the peace and stability of the peninsula and the international community as a whole, added the ministry. (Yonhap)