President Yoon Holds First Presidential-Led NSC Meeting on 'North Korea Missile Response' (Update)

President Yoon Suk-yeol is arriving at the Yongsan Presidential Office building on the morning of the 25th to attend the National Security Council (NSC) meeting regarding North Korea's ballistic missile launch. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] On the morning of the 25th, President Yoon Suk-yeol convened the National Security Council (NSC) in response to North Korea's ballistic missile launch. This marks the second provocation since Yoon's inauguration and a show of force just four days after the South Korea-US summit. It is the 17th military provocation this year.

The presidential office explained at 7:07 a.m. that "President Yoon has ordered the NSC meeting presided over by the president" and that "the NSC meeting presided over by the president is scheduled to be held at 7:30 a.m." President Yoon also arrived at the Yongsan Presidential Office Building around 7:30 a.m. and hurried to attend the NSC meeting.

This is the first NSC meeting presided over by the president since the new government took office on the 10th. During North Korea's ballistic missile launch on the 12th, a 'National Security Office Inspection Meeting' was held, presided over by Kim Sung-han, the Director of the National Security Office.

At that time, the National Security Office explained the reason for holding the inspection meeting instead of the NSC, stating, "Rather than a showy response to North Korea's provocation, we took practical measures based on an objective assessment of the security situation."

The convening of the NSC this time is interpreted as a serious recognition of North Korea's ballistic missile launch.

Earlier, the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that at 6:00 a.m., 6:37 a.m., and 6:42 a.m., North Korea launched ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang Sunan area, which were detected respectively. The military authorities are currently identifying specific details such as the range and altitude of these three ballistic missiles.

Since South Korea-US intelligence agencies have been closely monitoring preparations for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch around Pyongyang Sunan Airport until recently, the possibility of these being ICBMs has also been raised.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.