Japan, U.S. defense chiefs rap N. Korea missile launches

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday criticized North Korea's ballistic missile launches the day before as an act of provocation and a threat to international security.During their phone talks, Kishi and Austin agreed to keep working closely toward reinforcing their alliance's deterrence and response capabilities in dealing with Pyongyang's military activities, and to further promote trilateral cooperation involving South Korea, according to Japan's Defense Ministry."The two ministers strongly condemned a series of ballistic missile launc…READ FULL ARTICLE