Senior diplomats of Japan, the US and South Korea on Thursday strongly condemned North Korea's ballistic missile launch earlier in the day, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said. In response to North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch, the phone conversation was held by Akihiro Okochi, Director General of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Seth Bailey, US Deputy Special Representative for the Korean and Mongolian Affairs, and Lee Jun-il, Director General for the South Korean Foreign Ministry's Korean Peninsula Policy bureau, the ministry said in a press release. The three officials confirmed that the missile launch by the North is a violation of related UN Security Council resolutions, and strongly condemned the launch as a threat to the peace and safety of the region and international society, the ministry said. The three sides also reaffirmed that they will continue to work closely together in dealing with North Korea. According to the South Korean Defense Ministry, No rth Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea (Sea of Japan) on Thursday morning, which flew around 360 km and landed in the sea. The latest launches came after the North said last week that the South and the US will have to pay a "dear price" for what it called "provocative war" drills after the two countries carried out the joint summertime exercise Ulchi Freedom Shield in August. Source: Kuwait News Agency