SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- Senior diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan held telephone consultations Friday to share information and discuss responses following North Korea's latest ballistic missile launches, Seoul's foreign ministry said.

On Thursday, Pyongyang fired a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea amid an ongoing military exercise between South Korea and the U.S., which it has denounced as rehearsals for war.

Baek Yong-jin, director general for Korean Peninsula policy at the ministry, spoke with David Wilezol, deputy assistant secretary for Northeast Asia at the U.S. State Department, and Takashi Ariyoshi, deputy director-general at the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau, earlier in the day, according to the ministry.

"The three officials shared relevant information and discussed future responses," the ministry said in a release.

"The foreign affairs authorities of the three countries operate a channel for promptly sharing information and assessments whenever North Korea launches ballistic missiles," it added.

The latest missile firing came despite U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the scaling back of the ongoing combined exercise in what was seen as a conciliatory gesture toward Pyongyang. Trump has also expressed his willingness to resume dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

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