TOKYO (Kyodo) -- North Korea fired a ballistic missile Monday that is believed to have fallen into Japan's exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan, in the latest in a series of weapons tests in defiance of the international community, the Japanese government said.
Pyongyang's missile launch comes days after the Group of Seven leaders agreed in their weekend summit meeting in Italy to press the country to abandon its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development.
"We cannot tolerate North Korea's repeated provocations in defiance of warnings from the international community," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in his office.
Noting that North Korea is a "matter of high priority in the international community as agreed in the G-7 meeting," Abe expressed readiness to closely cooperate with the United States, South Korea and others to curb the country's provocations.
It would be the fourth time, if confirmed, that a North Korean ballistic missile has fallen into Japan's EEZ.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference the launch is also a "clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions" prohibiting North Korea from such activities.
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