Senior diplomats from South Korea, the US and Japan held telephone consultations on Monday to exchange information and discuss possible countermeasures after North Korea's latest ballistic missile launches, Yonhap reported.
On Sunday, Pyongyang fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea, marking the country's 14th ballistic missile launch this year and the first in eight days, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Baek Yong-jin, director general for Korean Peninsula policy at the ministry, spoke with David Wylesol, deputy assistant secretary of state for Northeast Asian affairs at the The US State Department, and Takashi Ariyoshi, a senior official at Japan's Foreign Ministry, the ministry's statement said.
"The three representatives exchanged relevant information and discussed future countermeasures," the ministry said in a statement. The foreign ministries of the three countries maintain a channel for timely exchange of information and assessments in the event of any ballistic missile launch by North Korea," it added.
The DPRK has rejected international calls for nuclear disarmament
The 70th regular session of the IAEA is underway
The launches on Sunday were in response to the multinational naval exercise "Pacific Vanguard" ("Pacific Vanguard"), led by the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet, as well as other military activities in the region.
The move is also seen as a signal to the outside world that Pyongyang will continue its efforts to strengthen its military capabilities ahead of the United Nations General Assembly session starting on Tuesday and a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping scheduled for Thursday.
North Korea has continued its missile tests despite Trump's conciliatory gestures toward the country. Trump has also expressed a willingness to resume dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.