The nuclear envoys of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan strongly condemned North Korea's firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile(IRBM) early Tuesday that passed through Japanese airspace.

The condemnation came during a phone conversation among the foreign ministry's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Kim Gunn and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi. 

The three sides noted that the North's latest ballistic missile launch as well as four previous rounds of short-range ballistic missile tests last week are clear violations of a number of UN Security Council resolutions.

They also agreed that the latest IRBM’s trajectory over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean poses a serious threat not only to the Korean Peninsula but to the region and world at large.

Expressing grave concern over Pyongyang’s escalating provocations since announcing a new nuclear policy law last month, the envoys urged the regime to immediately halt additional provocations.

According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS), it detected an IRBM traveling over Japanese airspace after being fired from the North's Chagang Province at 7:23 a.m.