[THE INVESTOR] The top diplomats of South Korea, China and Japan vowed Wednesday in a trilateral meeting joint efforts against North Korea’s persistent nuclear armament, denouncing the communist state’s missile launch earlier in the day.

The diplomatic event, as well the North’s provocation, came on the second day of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian, a Korea-US joint military exercise, to which North Korea has strongly protested and vowed retaliatory action.

At around 5:30 a.m., North Korea test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile from the vicinity of the eastern port city of Sinpo, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The missile, which flew some 500 kilometers before falling into the sea within Japan’s air defense identification zone, was considered successful, unlike two previous attempts.

“As can be seen in this morning’s (missile) launch, North Korea’s nuclear and missile actions have become a grave threat to the Northeast Asian region, pushing our three nations to respond in unity,” said South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se upon the talks with his Japanese and Chinese counterparts Fumio Kishida and Wang Yi in Tokyo.

Yun asserted, during the meeting, that North Korea’s threats of a pre-emptive nuclear attack and its possibility of further related tests call for urgent measures.

He also claimed that the three states have “reconfirmed” their common recognition on zero-tolerance on the North’s nuclear armament,” in a bid to dismiss skepticism on the unity of the Northeast Asian trio.

China and Japan continue to remain at odds over the Senkaku or Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea, while South Korea and China have recently faced tense relations over a decision to deploy an anti-missile battery.

Despite such conflicts, the three foreign affairs chiefs all agreed to call for an international response, including resolution on the United Nations Security Council level, against the North’s provocations. They also defined the North’s latest missile test as a “provocation that cannot be tolerated.”

The SLBM, along with the nuclear-capable bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile, is seen as completing what experts refer to as the nuclear triad, thus posing a tangible threat to South Korea and its ally the United States.

“We sternly take North Korea’s SLBM test-launch as a serious challenge to the peninsular’s security and a violation of the UN Security Council Resolution,” the JCS said.

“Based on solid defense alliance, we shall respond sternly to any provocations by the North.”

While diplomatic and military circles strove to reinforce the nation’s shield against the North, President Park Geun-hye also called for strengthened national defense, reiterating her hard-line stance against the communist neighbor.

The state leader made a visit to a battalion in the central forward area to examine military readiness posture during the UFG and to encourage soldiers, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

The presidential office also held an emergency standing committee session of the National Security Council, just hours after the SLBM test-fire.

The meeting, chaired by Kim Kwan-jin, chief of the presidential National Security Office, kicked off at 7:30 a.m., just hours after the communist neighbor shot the missile earlier in the day, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Jung Youn-kuk.

The participants were presidential chief of staff Lee Won-jong, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, Defense Minister Han Min-koo, Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo, National Intelligence Service Director Lee Byung-ho, deputy national security advisor and NSC Secretary-General Cho Tae-yong and senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs Kim Kyou-hyun.

By Bae Hyun-jung/The Korea Herald (tellme@heraldcorp.com)