SEOUL, March 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who is serving as acting president, held telephone talks with U.S. President Donald Trump over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s missile test-launches, Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday, citing multiple government sources.
The phone conversation lasted for 20 minutes from 8:40 a.m. local time (2340 GMT Monday) by the request of the U.S. president. It was the second phone talks between the two following the first on Jan. 30.
Hwang and Trump coordinated each other's positions on situations on the Korean Peninsula, including the DPRK's nuclear program, an unnamed government source was quoted as saying.
The phone talks followed the DPRK's test-launches on Monday of four ballistic missiles that flew around 1,000 km toward its eastern waters. Among the four, three fell into Japan's exclusive economic zone.
South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-Koo also had phone conversation with his Japanese counterpart Tomomi Inada earlier in the morning, discussing countermeasures to the DPRK's recent missile launches.
According to Seoul's defense ministry, Han and Inada agreed to maintain a close coordination based on a shared view on the graveness of the DPRK's nuclear and missile threats, strengthening cooperation with the international community for pressures and sanctions on the DPRK.
The two ministers shared a view that the DPRK's missile launches on Monday as well as on Feb. 12 posed a grave threat to peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula, the region and the international society.
On Feb. 12, Pyongyang successfully test-launched a new type of Pukguksong-2 intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM), supervised by top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un.
The IRBM, which was fired at an almost vertical angle of 89 degrees, blasted off to the highest altitude of 550 km and traveled about 500 km. If it was launched at a normal angle, it would have flown over 2,000 km.
