TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters while in Kagoshima Prefecture that the repeated ballistic missile tests by North Korea “can never be tolerated,” and that its “various provocative actions clearly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions.” Kyodo news agency.
North Korea said Monday it fired a “new-type ground-to-ground intermediate-range ballistic missile” over the Japanese archipelago as part of seven-round ballistic missile drills that ran from late September, according to state-run media.
The new missile fired last Tuesday was part of exercises by nuclear combat forces conducted as a “severe warning to the enemies,” the Korean Central News Agency said, referring to recent military exercises between the United States and South Korea near the Korean Peninsula involving US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has refused dialogue with the nation’s perceived enemies such as the United States, and feels no need to do so, given that the “dialogue and negotiation” is sought “while posing military threats to us,” KCNA said.
Kim was quoted as saying by the news agency that “we should send a clearer signal to the enemies escalating the regional situation by involving the huge armed forces in any time with more powerful and resolute will and action.”
Kim said Washington and Seoul have engaged in “irresponsible acts” that escalate regional tensions and would invite “greater reaction” from the North, according to KCNA.
He said the nuclear combat forces remain highly prepared at all times for a situation that might lead to a nuclear response.
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