The European Union has “strongly” condemned the launch by North Korea on October 4 of a ballistic missile that flew over the territory of Japan and fell into the Pacific Ocean, an event that had not occurred since 2017, five years ago.
“This is a further violation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and a flagrant violation of Japan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity enshrined in the UN Charter,” the office of the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, has asserted in a statement.
Specifically, the Union has described Pyongyang’s missile launch as a “serious threat” to peace and security in the region, as well as worldwide.
Brussels has therefore called on Pyongyang to refrain from any action that could “further” increase international and regional tensions, while calling on North Korea to comply with UN Security Council resolutions by abandoning all its nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
“The European Union underlines that the illegal actions carried out by North Korea cannot and will never confer on it the status of nuclear weapon state under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) or any other special status,” the office of the High Representative has warned.
Nevertheless, Brussels expressed its full solidarity with Japan and South Korea and reiterated its request to North Korea to cease its “aggressive and destabilizing” actions, to respect international law and to resume dialogue with Seoul.
“To this end, the Union stands ready to support any meaningful diplomatic process and is committed to working with all relevant partners to build a basis for sustainable peace and security and to take steps towards the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” wields the statement released by Borrell’s office.
The governments of Japan and South Korea announced last Tuesday that Pyongyang launched a ballistic missile that would have fallen into the Pacific Ocean, flying over part of the territory of the Japanese country, an event that had not occurred since 2017.
The Japanese government went so far as to issue a warning about the North Korean missile launch to the population of Hokkaido and Aomori prefectures in the north of the country, urging residents in the affected regions to take cover immediately to get to safety.