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The South Korean government summoned Japanese ambassador to Korea Shotaro Oshima to the foreign ministry on Monday to express regret over Japan’s initiation of a UN Security Council resolution draft that calls for sanctions against North Korea. Seoul also criticized recent comments by Japanese government officials regarding the possibility of a preemptive attack on North Korean facilities.

According to a ministry spokesperson, Ambassador Oshima and vice foreign minister Lee Kyu-hyung discussed a wide range of issues, including activities at the UN Security Council and the holding of inter-Korean ministerial talks. The spokesperson would not comment on exactly what was discussed, citing diplomatic practice.

However, one source said Minister Lee strongly took issue with what is seen as Japan’s overreaction to North Korea’s missile tests, with some officials in Japan openly talking of the potential need to engage in a preemptive attack on North Korean facilities. Minister Lee is said to have asked for restraint, saying it would contribute to regional peace and stability.

Japan’s Defense Agency director, General Fukushiro Nukaga, along with foreign minister Taro Aso has been making comments that hint to the possibility of a preemptive attack. Chief cabinet secretary Shinzo Abe held a press conference Monday in which he said there needs to be deeper discussion about the possibility of attacking the missile launch facilities "if there is no other choice, as there exists the view that [a preemptive strike] is within [Japan’s] constitutional right to self defense."

"There is a need to examine and research what should be done to defend the Japanese people, territory, and state," said Secretary Abe. He expressed displeasure with a statement issued by the South Korean presidential office on Sunday, which said North Korea’s missiles "target no one" and that the Korean government would not get "excited" by the issue, like Japan.

On Sunday, Nukaga and Secretary Aso were interviewed on Japanese television, where Nukaga said that Japan would do the "minimum of what it takes, within a certain framework, as an independent nation" to solve its issues with North Korea.

If missiles with nuclear warheads are aimed at Japan, Nukaga said, "we cannot do anything until the damage is done."