(image: Cheong Wa Dae)
SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — President Moon Jae-in ordered thorough implementation of the latest U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea after the communist nation defiantly carried out yet another ballistic missile launch, the presidential spokesman said Friday.
Moon issued the order during a National Security Council meeting he presided over after the North fired a ballistic missile over Japan again earlier in the day, just days after the U.N. Security Council imposed news sanctions for its sixth nuclear test, according to presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun.
Predicting that the North is highly likely to undertake additional provocations, Moon also instructed the government to come up with measures while “concentrating all capabilities on efforts to make sure that U.N. Security Council Resolution 2375 is thoroughly implemented,” Park said.
Moon instructed the government to work with the international community to examine all diplomatic means so as to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear and missile programs, and ordered the military to put together effective and stern measures based on combined defense capabilities with the U.S., Park said.
Moon also ordered preparedness against new types of threats from the North, such as electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons and biological threats, Park said.
Officials said that signs of North Korea’s missile launch preparations were reported to Moon on Thursday afternoon. After the report, Moon ordered the military to take military action in response. Under the order, the military conducted live-fire ballistic missile drills after the North’s firing, officials said.
“Signs of North Korea preparing a missile launch were detected around 6:45 a.m. yesterday and were reported to the president,” an official told reporters. “The president, without taking anything else into consideration, approved the firing of Hyunmoo missiles upon North Korea’s missile provocation.”
During the NSC meeting, participants strongly condemned the North for carrying out the missile launch despite the international community’s warnings, while cautioning that the series of provocations would only deepen the North’s diplomatic and economic isolation, Park said.
(Yonhap)
