Seoul refuses to be cowed by Pyongyang’s missiles tests

SEOUL: South Korean President Moon Jae-in said yesterday that he would not take a single step backward with any provocations by North Korea.

Moon’s comments followed Pyongyang’s fifth missile test-launch since he took office about a month earlier. The president held his first plenary session of the national security council and said his government would not make any compromise in defending national security and people’s safety.

Moon said the only thing North Korea can earn from the provocation would be international isolation and economic difficulties, according to a press release by the presidential Blue House.

The plenary session was chaired by Moon, and attendees included senior presidential secretaries for security affairs, the prime minister, the spy agency chief and the ministers of foreign affairs, defence and unification.

The security meeting was called after North Korea test-fired a number of projectiles, believed to be short-range ground-to-ship cruise missiles, from the city of Wonsan on the east coast.

The missiles flew about 200km into North Korea’s eastern waters.

Moon maintained a position that he would sternly deal with any provocation while seeking dialogue with Pyongyang for a denuclearised Korean Peninsula

He said his government would make unwavering efforts to completely dismantle North Korea’s nuclear programme by using both sanctions and dialogue.

He urged Pyongyang to immediately stop nuclear and missile provocations and come back to the path of denuclearisation to create peace and co-prosperity on the peninsula. – Xinhua