US, Japan, South Korea Condemn North Korea Missile Launches

The United States and its close allies Japan and South Korea issued a joint statement Thursday to "condemn” North Korea's latest missile launches. "These launches are clear violations of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, and demonstrate the threat (that North Korea's)...unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs pose to the region,” the statement said. North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles, South Korea's military said Thursday, shortly after Pyongyang warned of an "inevitable” response to ongoing US-South Korea joint military drills. The trilateral statement reflected the growing thaw between Japan and South Korea — a major foreign…