Seoul: South Korea will impose fresh sanctions on North Korea in response to its launch of a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) toward the East Sea, the presidential office said Thursday. The decision came at an emergency National Security Council meeting held shortly after the South Korean military detected the launch from near Pyongyang around 7:10 a.m. “In response to North Korea’s provocation, (the NSC) decided to designate new unilateral sanctions against North Korea,” the presidential office said in a press release, adding the council will work closely with friendly countries and the United Nations to ensure more effective implementation of existing international sanctions against the North.

According to Yonhap News Agency, after being briefed on the launch, President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered a “strong response” to North Korea’s provocations and “thorough readiness to ensure North Korea cannot plot a surprise provocation,” the presidential office said. The NSC standing members, including
National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik, “strongly denounced” the North’s provocations as a serious threat to peace and safety on the Korean Peninsula and in the world.

They noted the ICBM launch constituted another violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions following the North’s deployment of troops to Russia’s war on Ukraine. They vowed to respond firmly and swiftly to any North Korean provocation based on a solid combined South Korea-U.S. defense posture and to further strengthen trilateral security cooperation with the U.S. and Japan.

Moreover, they “deplored” that North Korea has sent its young troops to an “unjustified” war after wasting its scarce resources on developing weapons of mass destruction.