N Korea fires possible new missile, raising concerns

SEOUL / BEIJING — Several countries, including China and Russia, yesterday expressed concerns about rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, hours after North Korea fired a ballistic missile in defiance of calls to rein in its weapons programme.

The launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile, which flew 700km before dropping into the sea between North Korea’s east coast and Japan, came days after new South Korean President Moon Jae-in pledged to engage the North in dialogue, and hours before ally China hosted world leaders at the Silk Road trade summit.

The United States Pacific Command said it was assessing the type of missile but it was “not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile”.

Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada said the missile could be of a new type.

Speaking in Beijing, Mr Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, said Mr Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping had discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula, including the latest missile launch and expressed “mutual concerns” about growing tension.

Mr Putin is in Beijing for a conference about Mr Xi’s One Belt, One Road initiative.

During the meeting with Mr Putin, Mr Xi said Moscow and Beijing have played the role of a “ballast stone” in safeguarding regional and global peace and security, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, in calling all sides to exercise restraint, said the situation on the Korean Peninsula is “complex and sensitive”.

“China opposes relevant launch activities by North Korea that are contrary to (United Nations) Security Council resolutions,” she said, adding that countries “should not do things that further escalate tensions in the region.”

The missile launch came two weeks after North Korea fired a missile that disintegrated minutes into its flight, marking its fourth consecutive failure since March.

US National Security Adviser H R McMaster had phone conversations with his counterparts in South Korea and Japan to discuss the situation.

South Korean President Moon, who took office last week, held his first National Security Council meeting yesterday in response to the launch, which he called a “clear violation” of UN Security Council resolutions, said his office.

“The President said (that) while South Korea remains open to the possibility of dialogue with North Korea, it is only possible when the North shows a change in attitude,” Mr Yoon Young-chan, Mr Moon’s press secretary, told a briefing. Mr Moon had previously said he is willing to go to Pyongyang under the right circumstances, arguing that dialogue must be used in parallel with sanctions.

In echoing Mr Moon, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Pyongyang’s repeated missile tests are “a grave threat to our country”.

In Washington, the White House called for tougher sanctions against North Korea, saying that Pyongyang has been “a flagrant menace for far too long”. AGENCIES