Rival parties strongly condemn N. Korea's missile launch

▲ A person walks past a TV screen showing news footage of a missile being launched from North Korea in a train station in Seoul on July 12, 2023. (Yonhap)

rival parties-NK missile

Rival parties strongly condemn N. Korea's missile launch

SEOUL, July 11 (Yonhap) -- The ruling and main opposition parties strongly condemned North Korea's missile launch Wednesday, saying it threatens peace and raises tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in the region.

Earlier in the day, North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile into the East Sea, the first such launch in about three months after the North fired a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in April.

The launch also came in the midst of President Yoon Suk Yeol's trip to Lithuania to attend a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit. He was expected to use his attendance to raise international support in countering continuing threats from North Korea.

"We strongly condemn North Korea's provocation that threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and the surrounding countries," Hwang Kyu-hwan, a spokesperson of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), said. "Such ceaseless provocations ... show that North Korea has not changed at all, despite lopsided generosity from the previous administration."

Hwang also said the missile launch showed that the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un issued bellicose statements accusing U.S. reconnaissance planes of intruding into skies over the North's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in an attempt to find an excuse for the provocation.

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) also condemned the launch, saying armed provocations cannot be justified for any reason.

"North Korea's continued armed provocations are raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula and threatening peace," DP's chief spokesperson, Rep. Kwon Chil-seung, said in a written statement. "North Korea should immediately halt provocations that do no good but harm and deepen its isolation from the international community."

Kwon also called on the government to ensure its readiness and take steps to ease tensions.

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