August 24, 2016
By Motoko Rich
Tokyo — The missile that North Korea (click here) test-fired from a submarine off its east coast on Wednesday momentarily brought together three nations that have recently had reasons to squabble.
At a previously scheduled meeting in Tokyo, the foreign ministers of the three nations — China, Japan and South Korea — criticized the missile test, which appeared to demonstrate a significant advance in North Korea’s efforts to build a harder-to-detect means to strike American and allied forces. The missile flew 310 miles toward Japan, much farther than previous tests.
Tensions between the three countries have risen in recent months: Chinese vessels have repeatedly entered disputed water surrounding a group of Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea, setting off protests from Japan. Tokyo opposed a visit this month by South Korean lawmakers to islands both nations claims. And China has harshly criticized South Korea’s agreement to host an American-built advanced missile defense system that the Chinese believe could be used against their missiles.
But North Korea’s missile launch briefly united the three other nations on Wednesday.
“If there was a silver lining, it would be the fact that it provided the three an opportunity to have something in common, which is rare,” said J. Berkshire Miller, an international affairs fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations.
If the North Korean threat is to be truly defused, experts say, the three East Asian neighbors will need more common ground....
