U.S. condemns N. Korea's ballistic missile launch, calls on Pyongyang to engage in dialogue: State Dept.

North Korea 11:42 March 16, 2023

By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, March 15 (Yonhap) -- The United States condemns North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch, a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday, calling it a threat to international peace and security.

State Department press secretary Ned Price also called on North Korea to refrain from further provocations and engage in sustained dialogue.

"The United States condemns the DPRK's ballistic missile launch," he told Yonhap in an email.

"This launch is a clear violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, and demonstrates the threat the DPRK's unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs pose to the DPRK's neighbors, the region, international peace and security, and the global non-proliferation regime," he added, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

This file photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 19, 2023, shows the North's firing of a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile at a lofted angle the previous day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile into the East Sea earlier in the day.

It marks North Korea's second long-range ballistic missile launch this year, following the country's firing of a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) last month.

Pyongyang fired an unprecedented 69 ballistic missiles in 2022, marking a new record of ballistic missiles fired in a single year. Its previous record was 25.

"This action demonstrates the need for all countries to fully implement DPRK related U.N. Security Council resolutions that are intended to prohibit the DPRK from acquiring the technologies and materials needed to carry out these destabilizing tests," Price said.

The spokesperson also called on North Korea to engage in dialogue, while reaffirming U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea.

"Together, with the international community, we call on the DPRK to refrain from further provocations and engage in sustained and substantive dialogue," he said. "Our commitments to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remain ironclad."