(LEAD) S. Korea deplores N.K. missile test at Track 1.5 forum amid Pyongyang's absence

▲ In this file photo, Choe Son-hui (L), then deputy director for North American affairs at North Korea's foreign ministry, arrives at an airport in Beijing on June 20, 2016, to attend the annual Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) security forum-NK missile

(LEAD) S. Korea deplores N.K. missile test at Track 1.5 forum amid Pyongyang's absence

(ATTN: ADDS more info in last 4 paras)

SEOUL, July 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has deplored North Korea's ongoing missile provocation at a regional security conference that has served as a venue for dialogue among the members of the six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday.

At a session of the annual Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD) held in California on Monday, Chun Young-hee, head of the ministry's Korean Peninsula Peace Regime Bureau, deplored Pyongyang for threatening the international community with its ongoing nuclear and missile development, according to the ministry.

At the forum held at the University of California San Diego, Chun also stressed that the North was turning a blind eye to the dire humanitarian situation of its own people while pushing forward with its weapons programs.

The NEACD, commonly referred to as a Track 1.5 security forum, brings together government officials and civilian experts of the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

North Korea did not attend this year's forum, according to the ministry. The reclusive country last attended the meeting in 2016, represented by Choe Son-hui, now serving as the North's foreign minister.

At the gathering, participants also exchanged their views on the security situation in Northeast Asia and discussed a wide range of issues, such as the U.S.-Sino rivalry and the Ukrainian war, according to the ministry.

Meanwhile, the top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan held phone talks Tuesday and agreed to respond sternly to the North's provocations, condemning its latest ballistic missile launch as a grave violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Kim Gunn, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi, respectively, discussed the recent security situation as North Korea is set to mark the 70th anniversary of the armistice of the Korean War this week.

They also discussed the North's invitation of a Chinese delegation led by Li Hongzhong, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, to an upcoming ceremony in Pyongyang, according to the ministry.

The invitation marks the first known case in which the secretive regime has officially invited foreign guests to the country since imposing rigid border lockdowns to protect against the pandemic.

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved