South Korea’s defense ministry slams North Korea’s missile launch

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s defense ministry said on Saturday that it condemns North Korea’s launch of a missile towards the sea off the North’s east coast on Friday, urging the communist neighbour to stop escalating inter-Korean tension.

The ministry also said in a statement that it was regrettable that Pyongyang slammed the U.S.-South Korea’s annual joint drill and meeting.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Joyce Lee; Editing by Leslie Adler)