North Korea’s call for U.S. Forces Korea to leave the peninsula follows U.S. President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s joint condemnation of recent North Korean missile tests.
Advertisement
The UN Security Council on Tuesday also condemned the launches and threatened “further significant measures” if it refuses to stop its nuclear and missile tests. Obama went on to the Lao capital for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Monday’s launches were just the latest salvo in a steady series of missiles coming from North Korea.
The missiles likely landed in the sea 200 to 250 km (120 to 160 miles) west of Hokkaido, Japan’s northern-most main island, sources at Japan’s defense ministry said on Monday.
He also reiterated the country’s “unwavering” commitment towards deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (Thaad) anti-missile system in South Korea to defend it from North Korean threats, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Such activities “contribute to the DPRK’s development of nuclear weapons delivery systems, and they raise tension”.
A senior diplomat from North Korea involved in stalled global talks to end its nuclear program has visited China, a South Korea news agency said on Wednesday, as China endorsed a fresh rebuke of the North by the United Nations.
Japan is making a new emergency system that will issue faster alerts if North Korea launches any missiles, according to reports Wednesday.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the three ballistic missiles, all believed to be Rodongs, were launched from the western North Korean town of Hwangju and flew across the country before splashing into the sea.
Earlier, France called the tests “extremely concerning” and “a clear and unacceptable new violation of the Security Council resolutions”.
South Korea has been very careful not to interfere or step into the sensitive conflicts over territorial issues.
North Korea says it will not abandon its nuclear “deterrence” unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward Pyongyang and dissolves the US-led command in South Korea.
“The opportunities for us to dialogue with them are there”, Obama said.
The council met Tuesday behind closed doors at the urgent request of the U.S., Japan and South Korea.
Mr. Obama said he still believes the prison is a “recruitment tool that clouds and sours” US relations with other countries.
Advertisement
She also declined to confirm media reports that Choe Son-hui, a North Korean senior nuclear negotiator, is now in China, saying that she has nothing to share at this moment.
