South Korea urges North to 'immediately stop missile provocations'

ANKARA

South Korea on Monday urged North Korea to “immediately stop missile provocations that escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in the region.”

Seoul’s reaction came hours after Pyongyang disclosed that it fired missiles, including a nuclear-capable missile, during the two-week-long military drills, Yonhap News Agency reported.

“(South Korea) cannot accept North Korea using the South Korea-US exercises as a pretext to justify unlawful provocations,” the agency quoted an official, without naming, as saying.

Earlier today, North Korea said the recent missile tests were part of its two-week-long "tactical nuclear" drills to simulate hitting South Korea with nuclear weapons.

Pyongyang said: “The units of the Korean People's Army (KPA) for the operation of tactical nukes staged military drills from Sept. 25 to Oct. 9 in order to check and assess the war deterrent and nuclear counterattack capability of the country, which comes to be a severe warning to the enemies,” Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The Seoul official said they would continue efforts to ease tension through dialogue and diplomacy.

However, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un again rejected any dialogue with the US and South Korea.

“The enemies have still talked about dialogue and negotiation while posing military threats to us, but we have no content for dialogue with the enemies and felt no necessity to do so,” Kim said on Monday.

Meanwhile, the South Korean presidential office called the security situation "grave" in the region.

“It is important to accurately recognize the grave security reality on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia and prepare appropriately for it,” the agency said citing a presidential statement.

Tensions on the peninsula rose in 2020 when North Korea attacked and blew up the inter-Korean liaison office along the border. Seoul has threatened a strong response if Pyongyang "further worsens the situation."

However, tensions soared further last year when Seoul and Pyongyang ramped up military drills to show off their might.