As North Korea launched a ballistic missile into the East Sea on the 12th, the diplomatic authorities of South Korea, the United States, and Japan held phone talks and urged North Korea to stop its provocations.
According to Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, right after North Korea's ballistic missile launch, Baek Yong-jin, director general for Korean Peninsula policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, David Wailerzol, deputy assistant secretary for Korea and Japan in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Ariyoshi Takashi, Deputy Director General for the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held phone consultations.
They reaffirmed that North Korea's ballistic missile launch violated relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions. They also urged North Korea to halt provocations that threaten peace and security in the region and the international community, and agreed to continue close coordination among South Korea, the United States, and Japan.
A South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs official also confirmed the three-way phone consultations that day, saying the sides shared relevant information and discussed future response measures. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the diplomatic authorities of South Korea, the United States, and Japan are operating a channel to quickly share information and assessments whenever North Korea launches a ballistic missile.
However, unlike Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which issued a press release that day detailing the consultations and a message to North Korea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not issue a press release and only confirmed details when officials were asked related questions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that the Office of National Security and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) had already presented the government's position on North Korea's ballistic missile launch, so it did not issue an additional statement.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected North Korea launching one ballistic missile into the East Sea from around Wonsan at about 6 a.m. that day. Ahead of the South Korea-U.S. combined exercise "Ulchi Freedom Shield" (UFS), North Korea again proceeded with a ballistic missile launch after six days, marking its 11th ballistic missile launch this year. Japan's Ministry of Defense said the missile reached a maximum altitude of about 90 km, flew about 690 km, and was presumed to have fallen outside Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).