Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi held a telephone conversation with colleagues from the United States and South Korea, during which the parties condemned the attempt by the DPRK to launch a satellite.
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“The ministers strongly condemned the launch by North Korea using ballistic missile technology to launch a satellite on August 24. They also reaffirmed their desire to continue to work together to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions and strengthen regional deterrents, including security cooperation between Japan, the United States and South Korea, as well as cooperation with the international community,” the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
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According to media reports, the DPRK announced the failure of the second attempt to launch a reconnaissance satellite and that it will try to carry out a third launch in October.
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Earlier it was reported about the launch, presumably, of a ballistic missile from North Korea. An air raid alert was issued in the southern Japanese prefecture of Okinawa. Then it was reported that a North Korean missile flew over Japan towards the Pacific Ocean, and the air raid alert was canceled. South Korea announced the launch of a carrier rocket. Japan protested to North Korea over the launch. The NHK TV channel, citing the Japanese Ministry of Defense, reported that fragments of a North Korean missile fell into the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and other parts of the Pacific Ocean.