Cho Tae-yong Chairs First NSC Standing Committee Meeting Two Weeks After Inauguration... Criticism of 'Human Rights Atrocities' Intensifies

NSC "Reckless Nuclear Threats and Missile Provocations Run Rampant"
Mentions GSOMIA Restoration and Strengthening of ROK-US-Japan Information Sharing
ROK-US-Japan NSCs Condemn North Korea's Missile Launches at Similar Times

Cho Tae-yong, Director of the National Security Office, presided over the National Security Council (NSC) on the 13th and strongly condemned North Korea for launching a medium-range or longer ballistic missile. This came six days after North Korea stopped responding to regular calls through the inter-Korean joint liaison office and the West and East Sea military communication lines, and two weeks after Cho was appointed.

On the morning of the same day, Cho presided over an emergency NSC Standing Committee meeting at the Yongsan Presidential Office, received a situation report from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and discussed response measures. The NSC Standing Committee meeting chaired by the National Security Office Director was held for the first time in four weeks since the last meeting on the 16th of last month, which was chaired by then-Director Kim Sung-han just before President Yoon Suk-yeol’s visit to Japan.

At the NSC Standing Committee meeting held on the 16th of last month, North Korea’s illegal activities such as economic hardship, chronic food shortages, smuggling of fuel and luxury goods, exploitation of workers for foreign currency earnings, and cyber hacking were pointed out. Prior to that, following North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch on February 18, the NSC Standing Committee also expressed regret, stating, "In a situation where starvation is rampant due to severe food shortages in North Korea, the regime disregards the human rights and livelihoods of its people and focuses solely on large-scale military parades and nuclear and missile development," highlighting the food shortage issue.

Unlike recent NSC Standing Committee meetings, this meeting raised the level of criticism by using the term "human rights atrocities" in North Korea. NSC Standing Committee members raised their voices, saying, "The Kim Jong-un regime ignores the human rights atrocities of its people and recklessly escalates nuclear threats and missile provocations." The government plans to actively inform the international community of the reality of North Korea’s human rights violations by officially publishing a North Korea human rights report for the first time in seven years on the 31st of last month.

Moreover, the NSC Standing Committee emphasized the normalization of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) through the Korea-Japan summit last month and mentioned strengthening trilateral information sharing among South Korea, the United States, and Japan.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The United States and Japan also criticized North Korea’s provocations through their respective NSCs around the same time as South Korea’s NSC meeting. Adrian Watson, spokesperson for the White House NSC, stated in a press release that day, "We strongly condemn North Korea’s long-range ballistic missile test. The President and the national security team are closely coordinating with our allies and partners to assess the situation," urging North Korea to come to the dialogue table.

In Japan, at around 7:55 a.m., the nationwide warning system (J-ALERT), which delivers emergency information to local governments via satellite, issued an alert stating, "A missile is expected to fall near Hokkaido around 8 a.m.," and warned, "Take shelter immediately inside buildings or underground."

Upon detecting the missile launched by North Korea, the Japanese government issued evacuation warnings across the Hokkaido area and even stopped Shinkansen trains. The Japanese government also convened its NSC. Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno stated, "This is something that cannot be tolerated as it threatens the peace and stability of our country and the international community," and expressed that "a stern protest was lodged with North Korea through the Beijing embassy channel."

Meanwhile, on the same day, six days after North Korea stopped responding to regular calls through the inter-Korean joint liaison office and the West and East Sea military communication lines starting from the 7th, North Korea launched one medium-range or longer ballistic missile from near Pyongyang toward the East Sea. The military believes that the missile launched this time is likely a new type of missile previously revealed at a military parade.

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