[영문뉴스] 강경화 외교부장관, 미국 일본과 북한 미사일발사에 관해 논의하다
2017-09-16 위키리크스한국
By Kang Ji Hyun
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha discussed countermeasures against North Korea's new missile provocation in her separate telephone talks with her counterparts in the U.S. and Japan on Friday, the ministry said.
Her talks with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono came hours after the North fired a new ballistic missile that flew over Japan.
The discussion between Kang and Tillerson was cut short due to a poor connection. Tillerson was on his way back to Washington from a trip to London. They resumed their conversation on the matter after Tillerson got back to the U.S., a ministry official said.
The outcomes of the talks have yet to be disclosed.
Kang later held a phone conversation with Kono to discuss a coordinated approach to the matter, according to the ministry.
Kono emphasized the importance of strengthening the three-way cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the U.S. through diverse channels including the U.N. Security Council so as to produce "more powerful and effective" measures against the North, the ministry said.
The back-to-back phone conversations came right after the North fired a ballistic missile from the Sunan area in Pyongyang earlier in the day that traveled around 3,700 kilometers over Japan into the North Pacific Ocean. It reached a maximum altitude of 770 km, military authorities here said.
The provocation came days after the UNSC unanimously adopted fresh sanctions, including a restriction on fuel supplies, against the North for its sixth and most powerful nuclear test denotation Sept. 3.
The North dismissed the sanctions and vowed to bolster its nuclear capabilities.
South Korea, the U.S. and Japan have reportedly asked the Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on Friday (U.S. time) to discuss its approach toward the North's missile launch.