19 (EUROPA PRESS)
The North Korean government has confirmed this Saturday that the projectile launched a few hours ago is an intercontinental ballistic missile, according to a statement released by the country’s official news agency, KCNA.
The missile is a Hwasong-15 model and was activated in what the KCNA has described as a “surprise test”, according to information collected in turn by the official North Korean news agency Yonhap.
The projectile, according to North Korea, was fired from the Pyongyang airport and flew 989 kilometers over an hour “before accurately hitting a defined area within the open waters of the East Sea,” referring to the Sea of Japan, in what is the first launch of a missile of these characteristics in more than a month.
The launch has been, according to KCNA, a “real test” of the continuing efforts of North Korea’s “strategic nuclear force” to turn “its fatal nuclear counter-strike capability against hostile forces into an irresistible force, as well as a guarantee and clear proof of the safe reliability of its nuclear deterrent.”
THE EU CONDEMNS THE “DANGEROUS AND REckless” ACTION
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, has condemned this Saturday “the dangerous and reckless action” of North Korea, something that shows that the nuclear and missile program in the region “threats all countries” , and at the same time calls for a response from the UN Security Council.
“The EU reiterates its call on North Korea to immediately cease firing ballistic missiles and enter into a constructive dialogue with the United States and the Republic of Korea,” the statement said.
Thus, the EU has reiterated that “it will never accept that North Korea undermines the international non-proliferation architecture” and calls for the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in order to achieve security in the region.
