Defense officials from Japan, South Korea, and the United States met virtually on Thursday, days after North Korea launched the second of two recent missile tests that have created waves in the international community.
The officials — Japanese Director for Defense Policy Masuda Kazuo, South Korean Deputy Minister for National Defense Policy Kim Man-gi, and U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner — discussed the nuclear and missile threat emanating from North Korea.
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They also spoke on “regional security, and substantive ways to strengthen the trilateral security cooperation,” according to a readout from the U.S. Department of Defense.
LATEST NORTH KOREAN MISSILE TEST MORE ADVANCED THAN LAST WEEK’S, SEOUL SAYS
Their conversation came days after North Korea launched a more advanced missile test than the one it conducted last week, according to the South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Tuesday’s missile test near the border with China, launched from the Jangang province, supposedly reached a speed of Mach 10, which is 10 times the speed of sound. Hypersonic missiles, commonly defined by reaching at least five times the speed of sound, fly closer to the Earth. The newest advancements make them more maneuverable, likely making their success rate higher, as they’re harder to defend against.
Following the test, the Biden administration sanctioned several North Koreans based in Russia and China and the Moscow-based Parsek LLC, whose director of development has worked closely with a North Korean national since 2016.
“These designations convey our serious and ongoing concern about the DPRK’s continued proliferation activities and those who support it,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday. “The United States will use every appropriate tool to address the DPRK’s WMD and ballistic missile programs, which constitute a serious threat to international peace and security and undermine the global nonproliferation regime.”
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North Korea claimed earlier on Wednesday it succeeded in the “final verification” of its hypersonic missile program. Regardless of veracity, it appears it intends to join the U.S., China, and Russia in a hypersonic arms race.
