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| People at Seoul Station, Monday, watch TV footage of a North Korean missile launch. North Korea fired two presumed short-range ballistic missiles, according to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff. Yonhap |
By Jung Da-min
The National Security Council has expressed "strong regret" over North Korea's testing of two presumed short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM), Monday, about an hour after the latest launch was detected by the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
The North's latest SRBM launch came while President Moon Jae-in was on a state visit to the United Arab Emirates. Moon is on an eight-day trip of the Middle East from Jan. 15 to 22 to visit the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
President Moon ordered the NSC to make its utmost efforts to ensure the stable management of the situation, according to the presidential office.
The North's latest SRBM test marked the fifth and sixth projectiles fired off in the New Year, coming within only 13 days of three previous test events.
The South's National Security Adviser Suh Hoon presided over the NSC emergency meeting, attended by Moon's chief of staff You Young-min, Unification Minister Lee In-young, Defense Minister Suh Wook, National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Park Jie-won and other top national security officials.
"The NSC had in-depth discussions over the background and repercussions of the very regretful situation that North Korea has had four missile launches this year," the NSC said in a press release.
"In addition, the standing members of the NSC emphasized that, above all else, it is essential to start dialogue as soon as possible so that the situation on the Korean Peninsula would not deteriorate to be more strained but become more stable. To this end, we will double our efforts for dialogue with related countries including North Korea."
While the NSC has been conveying messages of "deep regret" over North Korea's continued missile launches, the South's conservative opposition bloc has criticized the Moon government and the ruling party for not issuing stronger messages, while only making futile efforts to bring the North back to the negotiating table for denuclearization talks.
According to the JCS, North Korea fired two projectiles presumed to be SRBMs into the sea off its east coast from around Pyongyang Sunan International Airport at around 8:50 a.m. and 8:54 a.m. The JCS said the missiles flew about 380 kilometers at an apogee of 42 kilometers. It is reported that their maximum speeds reached around Mach 5 but the JCS has yet to officially announce any other details including the maximum speeds.
The JCS also said the latest test launches seem to be aimed at improving the reclusive nation's continuous launch capability and accuracy by conducting a test with a selected target in the East Sea. The South's military has reiterated that it had been on alert ahead of the missile launch after detecting signs of possible SRBM launches and is closely monitoring related situations and preparing for additional launches in close cooperation with the U.S. military. It also added that the South has secured a defense system capable of detecting and intercepting the North's SRBMs and the system is continuously being strengthened.
