Seoul: South Korea's top nuclear envoy, Noh Kyu-duk, on Tuesday spoke to US Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim to discuss Pyongyang's latest missile launch, the Foreign Ministry said.

The phone conversation came hours after the North fired a short-range missile into the East Sea, days after Pyongyang expressed a willingness to improve inter-Korean relations and even discuss a summit with Seoul, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The North said improvements can happen only when the South drops its hostile attitude against the regime and the double standards of calling the North's weapons tests "provocations" while conducting its own such tests.

"The two sides shared the assessments on the latest Korean Peninsula situation, including the North's short-range missile launch and recent statements, and discussed ways to respond," the Ministry said in a statement.

"They agreed on the need for the stable management of the Korean Peninsula situation and watertight coordination between South Korea and the US," it said.

Noh and Kim decided to meet in person in Indonesia on Thursday for further discussions, the Ministry said.

The US State Department condemned Tuesday's missile launch as violating UN Security Council resolutions and posing a threat to neighbouring countries and the international community.

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