South Korea's presidential office convened an emergency meeting of the National Security
Council within hours of the missile launch.
Our chief Blue House correspondent Moon Connyoung joins us live.
Connyoung, give us the details.
A serious threat to world peace.
South Korea will NOT sit back and watch such provocations by North Korea.
That's essentially the message South Korea President Moon Jae-in delivered during an
early morning emergency meeting of the National Security Council today... held just hours
after Pyongyang launched what appears to be an intercontinential ballistic missile.
Take a listen to the president.
(Korean) "South Korea and the U.S. along with the international
community cannot but continue strong sanctions and pressure until North Korea abandons its
nuclear and missile program."
.
The missile test by North Korea early this morning is the first
of its kind in 75 days and the 11th since Mr. Moon came into office here in South Korea.
The liberal president had been a strong advocate of dialogue and negotiations with North Korea,
but during the course of those 11 provocations, Mr. Moon's message to the North has turned
much stronger, promoting international sanctions on Pyongyang.
BUT, his goals remains unchanged: strong sanctions so that North Korea's leadership will come
to talking terms with the South, Mark.
Connyoung, so what does that mean?
Is President Moon looking to other options...
perhaps one that's not so diplomatic, should we say?
Absolutely not, Mark, but I want you to take a listen to these remarks by Mr. Moon earlier
today.
(Korean) "South Korea will further strengthen our capabilities
to immediately retaliate in case of armed provocation and protect our nation from North
Korea's nuclear missile threats based on absolute dominance of power."
, .
So, yes.
Any kind of armed provocation from the North will be met with even stronger retaliation
from South Korea... and that as President Moon has urged time and time again... based
on his military's absolute dominance of power, military might and strength over the North
Korean regime.
But, President Moon also made clear that North Korea should in no way make the wrong choice
to provoke such military conflict and that Seoul and Washington will manage the situation
carefully so that there is no armed conflict on the Korean peninsula.
And, this just coming in.
President Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump have spoken over the phone to discuss Kim
Jong-un's latest missile provocation.
Together, they strongly condemned the rogue regime and agreed that
the North poses a severe threat to the entire world, Mark.