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U.S. urges N. Korea to stop provocations, engage in dialogue

May 4, 2022

The United States on Wednesday called on North Korea to stop its provocations and engage in dialogue, hours after Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile into the East Sea.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State also condemned the latest missile launch as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

“The United States condemns the DPRK’s ballistic missile launch,” the spokesperson told Yonhap News Agency in an email, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“Like the DPRK’s recent tests of at least three intercontinental ballistic missiles, this launch is a clear violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, and demonstrates the threat the DPRK’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs pose to the DPRK’s neighbors and the region as a whole,” the official added.

North Korea has staged at least 14 missile launches this year, including seven launches in January alone that marked the largest number of missile tests it conducted in any single month.

“We stand with the international community to call on the DPRK to refrain from further provocations and engage in sustained and substantive dialogue,” the department spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also reaffirmed U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea and Japan while reiterating the countries’ joint efforts to completely denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

“Our commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad. We have been and will continue to coordinate closely with our allies and partners to address the threats posed by the DPRK and to advance our shared objective of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” said the spokesperson.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command earlier said the latest missile launch by the North did not pose an immediate threat to the U.S. or its allies.

“While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory, or that of our allies, we will continue to monitor the situation. The U.S. commitment to the defense of the ROK and Japan, remains ironclad,” the Indo-Pacific command said in a released statement.