Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono has hinted at plans to introduce a new interceptor missile following North Korea's recent test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile(SLBM).

Kono said during a press conference Friday that since North Korea owns a considerable number of ballistic missiles capable of reaching all of Japan, Tokyo hopes to introduce a new missile system such as the Aegis Ashore, armed with around the clock surveillance and intercepting capabilities.

In regards to working-level talks between the U.S. and North Korea, the defense chief said the bilateral process is important to achieve a complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of North Korea's missiles and nuclear weapons programs.

Kono added that Japan and the U.S. remain unchanged in the stance that any firing of missiles by Pyongyang is a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, and the provocations must stop.

According to NHK, the Japanese defense ministry believes the SLBM fired by the North this week has a range of 25-hundred kilometers and may have been launched from a sea-based platform, not a submarine.