22 May, 2017
The launch comes a week after North Korea successfully tested a new midrange missile that Pyongyang said could carry a heavy nuclear warhead.
North Korea, also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), has vowed to develop a missile mounted with a nuclear warhead that can strike the mainland United States, saying the program is necessary to counter USA aggression.
The following day South Korea's Defense Minister, Han Min-koo, told the South Korean Parliament that North Korea's ballistic missile program appeared to be advancing faster than expected.
Admiral Harry Harris, who heads the Pacific Command, spoke during a visit to Japan after North Korea's latest ballistic missile test raised further alarm over the pace of its weapons development.
Moon's comments came hours after South Korea said it wanted to reopen a channel of dialogue with North Korea as part of the new President's policy on two tracks, i.e. involving both sanctions and dialogue in order to calm down the Kim Jong-un regime. Under U.N. sanctions, states are banned from supplying North Korea with sodium cyanide and Pyongyang has to abandon all chemical and biological weapons and programs.
The long-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 (Mars-12) is launched during a test in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 15, 2017.
Despite the launch, which sparked global condemnation and an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, President Trump has said he is "willing to create peace (with Pyongyang) using engagement", Hong told media on Wednesday. "But unlike in the 2000s, today, the North Korean nuclear issue is a much starker threat".
Admiral Harry Harris Jr urged nations not to get adopt a sense of complacency in the face of increasing tensions on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea test-launched a missile on Sunday that many experts believe could be its most advanced yet.
President Donald Trump is looking to both China and Russian Federation, the two permanent members on the Security Council that have historically been most sympathetic to North Korea, to join the US -backed campaign of diplomatic and economic pressure on the North to get it to denuclearize.
This data underlines the progress made by Pyongyang in its efforts to develop an intercontinental nuclear missile in the future that can reach the United States. Hong said he would discuss North Korea with high-ranking officials in Washington.
He is quoted as saying that South Korea had not yet received official word from the United States on whether Seoul should pay for USA missile defense THAAD.
