US, its allies condemn North Korea's latest missile launch

ANKARA

The US and its allies on Friday condemned the latest ballistic missile launch by North Korea.

US Vice President Kamala Harris met with leaders from Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok, Thailand’s capital.

The leaders strongly condemned the test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile as a "brazen violation" of multiple UN security resolutions, Kyodo News Agency reported.

"We will continue to urge North Korea to commit to serious and sustained diplomacy," the agency quoted Harris as saying

She said the missile launches are destabilizing security in the region and unnecessarily inflaming tensions.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the missile launch "totally unacceptable" and urged the international community to join hands for the complete denuclearization of North Korea, according to Japanese media.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday ordered the strengthening of extended deterrence measures following North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) earlier in the day, local media said.

Yoon issued the instruction during an emergency National Security Council meeting called in response to Pyongyang's latest missile launch, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"President Yoon ordered a strengthening of the South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture, active implementation of measures to strengthen the executability of the extended deterrence against North Korea agreed between South Korea and the U.S., and a strengthening of security cooperation between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan," the media outlet said, citing a statement issued by his office.

"Also, he ordered action for strong condemnation and sanctions against the North, including a U.N. Security Council response, together with the United States and the international community," it said.

Yoon recently met with US President Joe Biden in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and later renewed Washington's pledge to use all means, including nuclear, to defend its allies South Korea and Japan from North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, according to the agency.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen further following recent joint military drills by South Korea and the US, as well as North Korean missile tests.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid