Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
broken clouds
weather
OMAN
23°C / 23°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

China for disabling of tensions on Korean Peninsula

1019397
1019397
minus
plus

Seoul/Beijing: China’s Foreign Ministry on Monday urged all parties to de-escalate the tensions on the Korean Peninsula, a day after North Korea launched a ballistic missile with a range of several hundred kilometres into the sea.


The projectile was fired from a location north of Pyongyang near Pukchang and soared 500 kilometres before falling into the water, the South Korean armed forces’ Joint Chiefs of Staff said.


The official North Korean news agency KCNA confirmed the launch on Monday, noting that it had been supervised by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.


China opposes North Korea’s breach of UN Security Council resolutions, a Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday in Beijing.


“The current situation on the peninsula is sensitive, and we once again urge all related parties to remain calm, exercise self-restraint and avoid taking provocative actions that would escalate the tensions,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.


“We should make efforts to de-escalate the situation and get back on the track toward dialogue and consultation,” she said.


The missile was named as a ground-to-ground medium-to-long range strategic ballistic missile, Pukguksong-2.


Kim, known in North Korea as Supreme Leader, called the launch” perfect” and gave an order approving the deployment of this weapon system for action, according to KCNA.


Earlier, a US official had identified the missile in question as a medium-range ballistic missile, which has a shorter range than the systems tested by Pyongyang in its last three launches.


Japan was quick to condemn the launch, with a government spokesman in Tokyo saying that the missile had landed in the Sea of Japan but did not reach Japanese territorial waters.


The aggression comes one week after North Korea’s last ballistic missile test. That missile also landed in the Sea of Japan and prompted renewed international outcry against the reclusive dictatorship.


According to the Yonhap news agency, South Korean President Moon Jaein convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council.


Sunday marked the second time Moon’s leadership has been tested by missile launches by the North since he took office less than two weeks ago.


The latest launch, North Korea’s eighth so far this year, is thought to have taken place near Pukchang, the site of a botched test launch in late April in which a ballistic missile failed to leave North Korean territory.


The South Korean military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectile was unlikely an intercontinental-range ballistic missile, Yonhap reported, amid concerns that North Korea may be developing a new type of weapon.


— dpa


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon