South Korea's top diplomat on Friday strongly condemned North Korea's latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at high-level regional meetings led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta.
Foreign Minister Park Jin participated in the East Asia Summit (EAS) foreign ministerial meeting and the session of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the region's largest security meeting, held in this year's host country of Indonesia.
The EAS is a forum for dialogue among leaders of the Asia-Pacific region on a wide range of issues involving ASEAN member states, South Korea, China and Japan, as well as the United States, Russia, India, Australia and New Zealand.
During the EAS meeting, Park "strongly condemned" North Korea's ICBM launch carried out on Wednesday and took note of a statement issued by ASEAN's foreign ministers on Thursday expressing grave concern.
Park also stressed that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was in clear violation of international law and that it posed a "direct threat" to the principles of international order and national sovereignty.
He also underscored the importance of peace and stability in the South China Sea, and explained South Korea's willingness to cooperate with the international community in establishing a rules-based international order and allowing freedom of travel based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
At the ARF, Park noted that 30 years have passed since North Korea unilaterally announced its withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and that Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development has hampered the forum's efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region.
The minister said it was "deplorable" that the North continues to waste scarce resources on illegal nuclear and missile development while ignoring the difficulties of its people.
On the issue involving the South China Sea, Park reiterated South Korea's opposition to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the region, and also expressed concerns over ongoing violence and civilian casualties in Myanmar.
Source: Yonhap News Agency