Photo : YONHAP News
President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the National Security Council(NSC) to strongly respond to North Korea’s provocations, and to thoroughly prepare to obstruct further plotting of surprise provocations.
The order was issued after the National Security Office(NSO) briefed the president on the South Korean military’s detection of the North’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile(ICBM) early Thursday.
At an emergency session of the NSC standing committee presided over by National Security Advisor Shin Won-sik, the participants strongly condemned the North’s provocation, which poses a serious threat to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and around the world.
They also noted Pyongyang’s repeated violations of United Nations Security Council(UNSC) resolutions by deploying troops in support of Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine and through the latest ICBM launch.
The committee pledged to immediately and sternly respond to any type of the North’s provocation based on the firm Seoul-Washington combined defense posture, and to further bolster a trilateral security cooperation also involving Japan.
The members also agreed to impose a fresh set of unilateral sanctions in response to the latest provocation, and to closely cooperate with allied nations and the international community to more strongly and effectively execute global sanctions on the North.