North Korea's firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) this week violates multiple UN resolutions and threatens peace and stability in the region, said the United States, South Korea, and Japan in a joint statement yesterday, condemning the launch. 

The missile fired off North Korea's east coast on Wednesday, flew for 74 minutes to an altitude of 6,000 km (3,728 miles) and a range of 1,000 km, according to Japan, in what would be the longest-ever flight time for a North Korean missile. This constitutes a clear, flagrant violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions and poses a grave threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and beyond," the top foreign officials of the US, South Korea, and Japan said in the joint statement. The countries urged North Korea to cease its unlawful and escalators actions and promptly return to dialogue, the statement added. 

The officials – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Foreign Minister Park Jin of South Korea – met on the sidelines on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Jakarta, Indonesia, yesterday. Blinken reaffirmed the United States' "ironclad commitments" to the defence of Japan and South Korea in that meeting, according to a separate statement from the US State Department.