Nuclear envoys of S. Korea, US, Japan condemn N. Korea's satellite launch

Sung Kim, center, U.S. special envoy for North Korea, shakes hands with Kim Gunn, left, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, and Hiroyuki Namazu, head of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, during their talks on North Korea's suspected arms transfer to Russia at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. Oct. 17. Yonhap.

The nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan held phone talks Wednesday and condemned North Korea's launch of what it claimed to be a military spy satellite, the foreign ministry said.

North Korea said it successfully launched a space rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite southward from the Tongchang-ri area on its west coast late Tuesday, after two failed attempts in May and August, respectively.

Kim Gunn, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, spoke by phone with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Jung Pak and Hiroyuki Namazu, respectively, Seoul's foreign ministry said.

In the phone talks, the three "strongly condemned" the launch that threatens the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in East Asia, saying it is a clear violation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions banning the North from any launches using ballistic missile technologies.

"They also expressed deep concern that the North carried out a deceptive launch, as it came more than an hour before the time it had previously announced, seriously jeopardizing the safety of planes and vessels this time again, as it did in the two previous launches," the ministry said.

The North had notified Japan of its plan to launch the satellite between Wednesday and Dec. 1.

Based on their close coordination, the three envoys agreed to take action against the North's illegal provocations together with the international community, the ministry said. (Yonhap)