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| This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows the North firing a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile from the Sunan area in Pyongyang the previous day, March 17. Yonhap |
The United States strongly condemns North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch and calls on the country to stop further escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula, a National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson said Wednesday, hours after Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile into the East Sea.
The NSC spokesperson, Adrienne Watson, said President Joe Biden and his national security team are assessing the situation with U.S. allies and partners.
"This launch is a brazen violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region," she said in a released statement.
"This action demonstrates that the DPRK continues to prioritize its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs over the well-being of its people," she added, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Officials in Seoul earlier said the top envoys of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan held telephone conversations soon after the North's missile launch and strongly condemned the latest provocation.
The missile launch follows an unprecedented 69 ballistic missile tests by North Korea in 2022, as well as the test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in March.
"We urge all countries to condemn these violations and call on the DPRK to come to the table for serious negotiations," Watson said, reiterating that the door to diplomacy remains open.
"The United States will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and Republic of Korea and Japanese allies," the released statement said. (Yonhap)
