Japan Condemns North Korea over Ballistic Missile Launch

Tokyo, Nov. 18 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government strongly condemned North Korea on Friday for firing a ballistic missile that fell inside Japan's exclusive economic zone. Firing a missile of intercontinental ballistic missile-class capable of reaching the whole U.S. mainland is an "outrageous act that escalated provocations to the international community," Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told an emergency summit with leaders from five other countries in Bangkok that Japan condemns the missile launch in the strongest terms and called on the international community to work together in response. The meeting brought together leaders from the United States, South Korea, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in addition to Japan, who agreed to strengthen cooperation for the complete denuclearization of North Korea. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his South Korean counterpart, Park Jin, spoke by phone and confirmed efforts to strengthen deterrence. Takehiro Funakoshi, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, spoke by phone separately to U.S. and South Korean officials in charge of North Korea issues. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a press conference that North Korea "may conduct more provocative acts, including a nuclear test." Friday's missile flew for 69 minutes. "The U.S. mainland comes within its range depending on the warhead weight and other factors based on the calculation of its trajectory," Hamada said. On Nov. 3, North Korea apparently failed to launch an ICBM-class missile. A former Japanese defense minister said North Korea "exhibited its firing capacity as it had failed the previous time." Japan's Defense Ministry released video footage of vapor trails believed to be related to Friday's missile. White vapor resembling the contrail created from a missile flight can be confirmed in the video taken by an Air Self-Defense Force F-15 jet fighter above the Sea of Japan west of Hokkaido, northern Japan. END