Photo/Illutration A TV screen shows an image of a North Korean missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Aug. 31. (AP Photo)

Japan, the United States and South Korea booted up on Dec. 19 a new system to detect and share information on Pyongyang’s missile launches in real time in response to the growing North Korean military threat. 

In a joint statement, the three countries also announced plans for a multi-year trilateral exercise starting next year.

Previously, the United States disseminated North Korean missile test data with Tokyo and Seoul separately, not through simultaneous trilateral cooperation.

The new mechanism is expected to allow Japan to collect more accurate data immediately after missile launches, thanks to South Korea’s closer proximity to launch sites.

On the same day, Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency announced that the country had test-fired a Hwasong-18, a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, in apparent reference to a projectile launched from a Pyongyang suburb toward the Sea of Japan on the morning of Dec. 18.

The state media outlet said the launch sent a strong warning to the United States and South Korea, which had just reaffirmed their commitment to deterring North Korea at the Nuclear Consultative Group meeting in Washington on Dec. 15.

(This article was written by Kiyohide Inada in Seoul and Nobuhiko Tajima in Tokyo.)

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