South Korea's Security Council holds emergency meeting after North Korea's missile launch

A North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile launch from Pyongyang International Airport on March 16 (Photo: AFP/VNA)

President Yoon Suk Yeol is in Lithuania to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit.

At the meeting, President Yoon Suk Yeol affirmed that North Korea's launch was an illegal act and requested to strengthen the US's commitment to extended deterrence through the Nuclear Consultative Group that the leaders of South Korea and the US agreed to establish to discuss nuclear plans and strategies.

Earlier, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced that it had detected a missile launched from an area in or around the capital Pyongyang at 10:00 a.m. (local time).

The long-range ballistic missile flew about 1,000km before falling into the sea.

In a message to the press, the JCS stated that in addition to strengthening surveillance and vigilance, the South Korean military is maintaining a readiness posture and fully cooperating closely with the US.

On the same day, according to Kyodo news agency, the Japanese government voiced its opposition to North Korea's latest launch.

Japan believes it was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and the missile fell into an area 250km offshore from Hokkaido Island at 11:13 local time.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said North Korea has been launching missiles with increasing frequency this year.

North Korea's most recent long-range missile launch took place on April 13, when it launched the solid-fuel Hwasong-18 ICBM.

At the end of May, North Korea also failed to launch the military reconnaissance satellite "Malligyong-1".

According to VNA