The U.S. special representative for North Korea “strongly condemned” the country’s missile launches during a call with his Chinese counterpart on Wednesday, according to the State Department, while reaffirming Washington’s willingness to hold talks with Pyongyang at any time. 

Sung Kim expressed concern about North Korea’s “unprecedented number of ballistic missile launches” this year, including eight intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), in his videoconference with Liu Xiaoming, the State Department said in a press release Thursday.