The Presidential Office convened an emergency security meeting on the 3rd after North Korea launched a ballistic missile, urging Pyongyang to "immediately halt its ballistic missile launches."
The National Security Office said in a notice to the media that it held the emergency meeting with officials from the Ministry of National Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other relevant agencies after North Korea fired a ballistic missile from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea.
At the meeting, the office reviewed the South Korean military's response and assessed the launch's implications for national security. It also instructed relevant agencies to carry out necessary measures without delay.
The government stressed the need to re-examine the military's readiness posture and maintain a thorough response capability, noting that the missile launch followed a recent landmine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone.
"North Korea's repeated ballistic missile launches not only violate U.N. Security Council resolutions but are also a grave act that does nothing to help manage the current situation," the National Security Office said. "We urge an immediate halt."
The Joint Chiefs of Staff also said that morning that North Korea had fired a ballistic missile from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea. It was the North's first ballistic missile launch in 13 days, following one on Sept. 20.
On Sept. 20, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea about three hours apart. Two days later, Pyongyang said the launches were a test of an upgraded version of the Hwasong-11Ma hypersonic missile. Military authorities are analyzing detailed specifications of the latest missile, including its flight range and altitude.
The launch came shortly after President Lee Jae-myung said in an Armed Forces Day address that he would continue efforts to reduce military tensions between the two Koreas. Kim Yo-jong, director of the General Affairs Department of North Korea's Workers' Party, derided the president's message a day earlier as a "self-staged farce" and dismissed Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's offer of inter-Korean talks as "a delusion not worth responding to and a one-sided monologue."
