JCS condemns North Korean missile provocation
By Jun Ji-hye
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) condemned North Korea’s launch of what was presumed to be an intermediate ballistic missile, Tuesday, saying the North will face resolute retaliation if it continues its provocations.
“North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile is a clear violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution,” said JCS spokesman Army Col. Roh Jae-cheon. “The [situation] poses a serious threat to the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia as well as the world.
“The North will face resolute retaliation from South Korea and the United States if it carries out further provocations.”
Roh stressed that the South Korean military was closely monitoring the movements of North Korean soldiers and maintaining a firm defense posture.
The Kim Jong-un regime fired one missile over Japan earlier in the day, which landed in the North Pacific.
The large-scale provocation came after the North threatened to strike areas around Guam with its four Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missiles in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s warnings of “fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
Roh said South Korean surveillance assets, such as the Navy’s Aegis destroyer and an Air Force early warning system had detected the launch immediately.