The United States, Japan and South Korea announced on Saturday that they will share information on North Korean missile attacks by the end of the year, according to a statement issued after a meeting of their defense ministers in Singapore.
The three parties “acknowledged trilateral efforts to activate a clearing-house mechanism to exchange data in real time” in order to “enhance each country’s ability to detect and assess missiles launched” by North Korea, according to the statement.
Violation of UN resolutions
This announcement follows Pyongyang’s announcement of the aborted launch of a military satellite. On Wednesday, North Korea tried to launch a “military reconnaissance satellite” but it “was damaged at sea,” according to the North’s state news agency KCNA. The South Korean military then released images of the wreckage of the satellite and its launcher that it announced it had recovered from the Yellow Sea.
Seoul, Tokyo, Washington and Paris condemned Wednesday’s launch, saying it violated UN resolutions barring Pyongyang from testing ballistic missile technology, much like that used to launch satellites.
Since the 2019 escalation of tensions with its neighbor, North Korea has accelerated its military development and declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power.
Source: BFM TV
