WASHINGTON—The Group of 7 nations on Sunday slammed North Korea’s “reckless” launch of another intercontinental ballistic missile and called on the UN Security Council to take further “significant” action to halt the tests.
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations said repeated launching of missiles by North Korea “further destabilizes the region, despite calls from the international community for peace and stability.”
The missile North Korea test fired on Friday appeared to be its newest ICBM with the potential range to hit the US mainland.
The G7 statement called for “a united and robust response by the international community, including the need for further significant measures to be taken by the UN Security Council.”
The G7 comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States. A representative of the European Union joined in on the statement.
So far this month, North Korea is believed to have fired 30 short-, medium- and long-range missiles, including Friday’s launch which landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone west of Hokkaido.
North Korean state news agency KCNA claimed that the missile fired Friday was a Hwasong-17, its latest variant and one it asserted is “the strongest strategic weapon in the world.”
KCNA said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un witnessed the latest launch in the company of his daughter.
A series of test launches in October included a likely ICBM that flew over and past Japan, prompting warning sirens to sound in northern Japan.
North Korea has launched more missiles in 2022 than in any previous year.
The UN Security Council has passed nearly a dozen resolutions imposing sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and missile activity since 2006.
North Korea tested six nuclear bombs between 2006 and 2017, and has vowed to never cease its nuclear program.
The G7 statement reiterated demands that North Korea’s nuclear program must be verifiably dismantled and said the reclusive nation “will never have the status of a nuclear-weapon state.”
North Korea’s foreign minister on Sunday expressed “strong regret” over UN chief Antonio Guterres’ condemnation of the country’s intercontinental ballistic missile launch, a statement in state-run outlet KCNA said.
The North fired an intercontinental ballistic missile Friday in one of its most powerful tests yet, prompting Guterres to urge Pyongyang to halt any further “provocative actions.”
Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui responded by expressing “my strong regret over the fact that the UN secretary-general has taken a very deplorable attitude.”
The UN chief’s statement, Choe said, was “oblivious of the purpose and principles of the UN Charter and its proper mission which is to maintain impartiality, objectivity and equity in all matters.”
She added that the episode shows that Guterres “is a puppet of the US.”
Nuclear-armed North Korea has conducted a record-breaking blitz of launches in recent weeks, which Pyongyang — and Moscow — have repeatedly blamed on Washington’s moves to boost the protection it offers to allies Seoul and Tokyo.
Since Kim declared North Korea an “irreversible” nuclear state in September, the United States has ramped up regional security cooperation.
“We recently warned the UN secretary-general to consider the issue of the Korean peninsula on the basis of impartiality and objectivity,” Choe said.
She added that the North had made clear that it would have to result to “self-defence under the worrying security environment in the Korean peninsula and the region caused by the US and its vassal forces’ dangerous military cooperation.”
“Nevertheless,” Choe said, “the UN secretary-general shifted the blame for the case onto the DPRK rather than the US.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised Friday’s launch, which KCNA said was the Hwasong-17 — dubbed the “monster missile” by analysts.
The missile flew 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) at an altitude of 6,100 km, South Korea’s military said, only slightly less than the ICBM Pyongyang fired on March 24, which appeared to be the North’s most powerful such test yet.
Later on Friday, Tokyo and Washington held joint military drills in the airspace over the Sea of Japan.