Senior government officials from Japan, the United States and South Korea have condemned the unprecedented number of ballistic missile tests North Korea conducted this year.

The officials talked over the telephone on Saturday after North Korea fired ballistic missiles earlier in the day.

The three were Funakoshi Takehiro, who heads the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, the US Special Representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, and South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, Kim Gunn.

The diplomats agreed that the launches pose a grave and imminent threat to regional security and are a clear and serious challenge to the international community.

They also reaffirmed that their countries will work closely to promote regional deterrence and denuclearization of North Korea in line with UN Security Council resolutions.

Funakoshi also told his US and South Korean counterparts that Japan will actively contribute to dealing with the North when it takes up its seat as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in January.