North Korea Missile Provocation: Yoon Says "Immediate and Overwhelming Response... Strengthening ROK-US Combined Defense Posture"

North Korea Launches Long-Range ICBM Using Solid Fuel Following Military Reconnaissance Satellite Launch
"Korea-US Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) Tasks to Be Accelerated for Enhanced Execution"
NSC Standing Members Say "North Korea's Missile Launch Neglects Public Welfare... Inhumane Behavior"

On the 18th, President Yoon Suk-yeol attended an emergency Standing Committee meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) and instructed, "Respond immediately and overwhelmingly to any provocations by North Korea against our territory and people." In particular, President Yoon said, "Maintain a strong ROK-US combined defense posture and actively promote trilateral ROK-US-Japan joint responses by utilizing the real-time sharing system for North Korean missile warning information."

The Presidential Office reported that on the morning of the same day, President Yoon received a situation report from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the NSC Standing Committee meeting chaired by National Security Office Director Cho Tae-yong and issued these response directives.

President Yoon Suk-yeol attended the emergency National Security Council (NSC) Standing Committee meeting chaired by Cho Tae-yong, Director of the National Security Office, on the morning of the 18th and instructed response measures.
[Photo by Presidential Office]

Earlier, the Joint Chiefs of Staff stated, "North Korea's ballistic missile was launched at a high angle, flew approximately 1,000 km, and landed in the East Sea," adding, "Our military has been tracking North Korea's ballistic missile launch preparations in close coordination with the U.S." They further explained, "ROK, U.S., and Japan were prepared with a joint detection and tracking posture," and "The missile warning information of the launched North Korean ballistic missile was closely shared among the three parties."

In response, the Presidential Office convened the NSC Standing Committee and strongly condemned North Korea for blatantly ignoring the international community's warnings and Security Council resolutions by launching a military reconnaissance satellite and then firing a long-range ballistic missile (ICBM) using solid fuel, seriously threatening peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in the international community.

The President also issued directives. President Yoon said, "Respond immediately and overwhelmingly to any provocations by North Korea against our territory and people," and added, "To this end, maintain a strong ROK-US combined defense posture and actively promote trilateral ROK-US-Japan joint responses by utilizing the real-time sharing system for North Korean missile warning information." He further stated, "We will actively cooperate with the international community to condemn and block North Korea's illegal nuclear and missile activities," and "Speed up the tasks of the ROK-US Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) to further strengthen the ROK-US nuclear deterrence execution capability."

The Standing Committee members lamented that the North Korean regime is squandering enormous funds on missile launches while neglecting the difficult livelihoods of North Korean citizens. They pointed out the North Korean regime's anti-human rights behavior of granting privileges only to a small ruling faction in the Pyongyang area while neglecting the hardships of the vast majority of other residents, and raised the need to continuously and accurately inform the international community about this.

Meanwhile, the emergency NSC Standing Committee meeting on this day was attended by National Security Office Director Cho Tae-yong, Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Dae-gi, Minister of Unification Kim Young-ho, Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik, First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Jang Ho-jin, First Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service Hong Jang-won, NSC Secretariat Chief Kim Tae-hyo, and Second Deputy Director of the National Security Office In Sung-hwan, among others.

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