US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke Wednesday with the defense ministers
of South Korea and Japan about the threat posed by North Korea after
Pyongyang's missile launch.
International tensions have been rising over North Korea's series of
ballistic missile tests, a move long banned by the UN Security Council.
January was a record month for such tests, with at least seven launches
including a new type of "hypersonic missile" capable of high-speed
maneuvers.
"Leaders emphasized that the DPRK's ballistic missile launch destabilizes
regional security and is a clear violation of several United Nations
Security Council resolutions," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a
statement, using the acronym for North Korea's official name. .
South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook said the launch posed an immediate
and serious threat and promised to increase response capabilities based on
the US alliance.
The three ministers agreed to hold an in-person meeting in the near future,
his office said in a statement, without specifying a date.
North Korea boasted on Tuesday that it is one of only a handful of countries
in the world to possess advanced nuclear and missile weapons and the only
one to defy the United States by rocking the world with missile tests.
Excerpts from a classified United Nations report say that North Korea has
continued to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs over the
past year and that cyberattacks on cryptocurrency exchanges are an important
source of revenue for Pyongyang.