Presidential Senior Secretary for Public Relations Yoon Young-chan briefs the press about the outcome of a National Security Council emergency meeting convened following North Korea’s missile launch on Aug. 29. Pictured is the senior secretary in a briefing at Cheong Wa Dae on June 5. (Cheong Wa Dae)
By Sohn JiAe
President Moon Jae-in has urged the South Korean military to display its capabilities to retaliate against North Korea’s threats. The most recent North Korean missile launch was of a mid-range missile launched across the East Sea and northern Japan from the Sunan launch pad near Pyongyang at 5:57 a.m. on Aug. 29. The president’s response comes immediately following an emergency meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) Standing Committee that the president ordered following the North’s aggressive launch.
Presidential Senior Secretary for Public Relations Yoon Young-chan said in a briefing at Cheong Wa Dae following the president’s orders that the ROK Air Force had dropped eight MK84 multipurpose bombs from four F-15K fighter jets at a bombing range near Taebaek-si in Gangwon-do Province at 9:20 a.m.
“The NSC Standing Committee firmly condemns this newest round of missile launches by Pyongyang, which comes despite constant warnings from the international community and which is in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions against the North,” Yoon said. “The committee considers the North’s provocation to be a significantly grave threat and ordered that the ROK military should remain on full alert against any further provocations by the regime, and that it should maintain an enhanced military posture.”
The secretary said that Chief of the National Security Office Chung Eui-yong spoke with U.S. National Security Advisor Herbert McMaster over the phone to discuss ways in which the two allies could jointly respond to the threats from the North.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha also held a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Yoon added.
jiae5853@korea.kr
