G7 demands N. Korea 'refrain' from nuclear tests, missile launches

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks during the Presidency Press Conference at the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Karuizawa, Japan, April 18. Reuters-Yonhap

G7 foreign ministers on Tuesday demanded North Korea "refrain" from further nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches, warning of a "robust" response after talks in Japan.

Their warning came days after Pyongyang said it had successfully tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, hailing it as a breakthrough for the country's nuclear counterattack capabilities.

Last week's launch was the latest in a string of banned weapons tests conducted by North Korea, which has already fired several of its most powerful ICBMs this year.

"We demand North Korea refrain from any other destabilizing or provocative actions, including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology," the top diplomats said in a statement.

"Such actions must be met with a swift, united, and robust international response, including further significant measures to be taken by the UN Security Council (UNSC)."

Testing a more technologically advanced solid-fuel missile was one of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's goals in his military modernization campaign, announced in his New Year report.

Such missiles are easier to store and transport, more stable and quicker to prepare for launch, and thus harder to detect and destroy pre-emptively.

Clockwise from left, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Enrique Mora pose for photographs at the start of the fifth working session of a G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the Prince Karuizawa hotel in Karuizawa, Japan, April 18. AP-Yonhap

"We strongly condemn North Korea's unprecedented number of unlawful ballistic missile launches, including the April 13 launch of what North Korea claimed as a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile," the G7 ministers said.

"Each of these launches violated multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions," they added.

"North Korea's actions, together with increasingly escalatory and destabilizing rhetoric regarding the use of nuclear weapons, undermine regional stability and pose a grave threat to international peace and security."

At a military parade in Pyongyang in February, North Korea showed off a record number of nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missiles, including what analysts said was possibly a new solid-fuel ICBM. (AFP)