South Korea 'strongly condemns' North's ballistic missile launch
People watch a TV screen showing a news program reporting about North Korea's missile launch with file footage, at a train station in Seoul, May 4. AP-Yonhap
The presidential National Security Council (NSC) said Wednesday it "strongly condemns" North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile as a clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Following an emergency meeting held shortly after North Korea fired the missile toward the East Sea, the NSC called for Pyongyang to stop actions that pose a serious threat to the Korean Peninsula and the international society.
The NSC also urged North Korea to swiftly return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy.
North Korea fired the ballistic missile toward the East Sea, South Korea's military said, in the North's latest saber-rattling that comes less than a week before President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's inauguration.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from the Sunan area in Pyongyang at 12:03 p.m. and that the missile flew 470 kilometers at a top altitude of 780 km and speed of Mach 11. (Yonhap)