South Korea urges restraint after missile tests by North

SINGAPORE — South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo on Saturday fended off calls to step up pressure on North Korea after it test-fired missiles last month.

Jeong told an annual security conference in Singapore that the tests were being investigated and a conclusion is within reach.

“There are discussions whether or not it is a short-range ballistic missile. There is a perspective that it is a Russian Iskander missile, or it is a new tactical ballistic missile,” he said.

“There are data that we can verify, and we are working off those data to make sure we have a verification.”

Jeong was responding to a question on whether the tests were a violation of a military agreement between South and North Korea last September to halt acts of aggression against each other.

He said the North was “in fact acting within the boundaries” of the agreement and tensions between their militaries “have been lowered to a significant extent.”

“So currently the actions done by the North Korean regime have the intent to carry out the peace process through dialogue and talks. And I believe that’s the hidden intent behind the lines in terms of their missile launches.”

Jeong called on the international community to “assure North Korea that the decision to denuclearize is indeed the right decision.”

He said that South Korea sees humanitarian aid and the lowering of military tensions as ways “to lead North Korea into conversation and away from … the ways of the past.”

North Korea itself has defended the launches, saying it was exercising its right to self-defense.