Top nuclear envoys from South Korea, the United States and Japan jointly condemned North Korea on Sunday for its ballistic missile provocation.

According to Seoul’s foreign ministry, the denunciation came during a phone conversation between Seoul’s Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Kim Gunn, his Japanese counterpart Hiroyuki Namazu and U.S. Deputy Special Representative for North Korea Jung Pak.

The ministry said the envoys shared their assessments of the North’s firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile(IRBM) Sunday.

The envoys condemned the North of threatening peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the region with the missile launch after the recent firing of artillery near the western sea border area. 

The three stressed that the North’s continued provocation will only strengthen security cooperation between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan and that the international community's cooperation against North Korea will become more solid. They added that the latest launch clearly demonstrated once again that the North's illegal provocations and threats are the root cause of instability in the region. 

According to the South Korean military, North Korea launched an IRBM from the capital city of Pyongyang at around 2:55 p.m. Sunday toward the East Sea.