SEOUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has held an emergency meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) over North Korea's missile launches and ordered for taking retaliatory measures, saying that Pyongyang would not be able to destabilize the Seoul-Washington alliance and the South Korean society, the presidential office said on Wednesday.
"President Yoon Suk-yeol ... made it clear that the attempts by North Korea to destabilize South-Korean-US alliance and South Korean society will not be productive. He also ordered for immediate serious measures so that North Korea would certainly pay for its provocation," the statement read.
The participants of the emergency meeting, including the heads of the foreign, intelligence and unification ministries, said that North Korea's launch of the ballistic missile, which fell near the South Korean territorial waters 35 miles away from the northeastern city of Sokcho, is an "unprecedented provocation," and strongly condemned it as an act, "seriously threatening peace and stability" on the Korean Peninsula, the statement also said.
The officials also expressed regret that Pyongyang had conducted the test-launch during the national mourning in South Korea over the deadly Halloween stampede in Seoul's Itaewon district.
Wednesday's launch is North Korea's 29th this year. Pyongyang has emphasized that its test launches are being carried out in response to "provocations" by Seoul, which has recently been conducting active military exercises both independently and jointly with the US and Japan.
