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DPRK's leader Kim Jong Un has declared a recent submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test the "greatest success", Pyongyang's state media said on Thursday (Aug 25).
The missile flew 500km towards Japan, marking what weapons analysts called a clear step forward for DPRK's nuclear strike ambitions.
Kim stressed the need for stepped-up efforts to mount nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles and to develop means to deliver them in order "to cope with the unpredicted total war and nuclear war with the US imperialists"
The United Nations Security Council held a closed-door meeting on Wednesday at the request of the United States and Japan to discuss DPRK's latest missile launch.
Deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Petr Iliichev said "the Americans promised to circulate a press statement" on the issue but he had not seen a draft yet.
The Security Council was unable to condemn the launch of a missile by DPRK earlier this month that landed near Japan because China wanted the statement to also oppose the planned deployment of a U.S. anti-missile defense system in South Korea.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon found the launch "deeply troubling," and urged DPRK to de-escalate the situation and return to talks on decentralization, his spokesman Stephan Dujarric said.
Japan, China and South Korea agreed to urge DPRK to refrain from provocation and follow U.N. Security Council resolutions, after its latest missile launch towards Japan early on Wednesday.
Foreign ministers from the three Asian neighbours also sought to soothe their often-testy relations, and have reached an understanding on a trilateral summit meeting in Japan this year, a Japanese official said.
"We have confirmed that we will urge DPRK to exercise self-restraint regarding its provocative action, and to observe the U.N. Security Council's resolutions," Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told a news conference after hosting the meeting with his Chinese and South Korean counterparts.
In the face of the DPRK’s threat, cooperation among Japan, China and South Korea was more important than ever, Kishida said after his meeting with China's Wang Yi and South Korea's Yun Byung-se.
Yun promised South Korea's support to realise a trilateral summit by year's end, as well as to cooperate economically and to achieve a successful summit of the Group of 20 big economies next month in China.
Wang said China opposed DPRK's nuclear and missile programmes and any "words or actions" that cause tension on the Korean peninsula, China's foreign ministry said in a statement.
China will continue to push for the peninsula's denuclearisation, seek a resolution through talks and uphold regional peace and stability, Wang added.
The three ministers share the understanding that Japan will host a trilateral summit this year, though dates have yet to be worked out, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official told reporters.
(APD)