Seoul's Response

[Anchor Lead]

President Moon Jae-in convened a National Security Council meeting on Wednesday morning. President Moon said he would not condone Pyongyang's provocations and would push for tough sanctions and pressure in cooperation with the international community.

[Pkg]

President Moon Jae-in convened a National Security Council meeting at 6 a.m. Wednesday to condemn North Korea's missile launch and to discuss countermeasures. In the meeting, which lasted about 50 minutes, President Moon stressed that it's important to prevent the North from misjudging the situation and threatening the South with nuclear weapons, as well as prevent the United States from considering a pre-emptive strike. The president said that unless Pyongyang stops its military provocations, peace on the Korean Peninsula is unfeasible. Headded that South Korea, the United States and the international community have no other choice but to use tough sanctions and pressure against the North. President Moon instructed his administration to step up the reinforcement of South Korea's military capabilities to remove the North Korea threat. This is in line with an agreement at the latest South Korea-U.S. summit to abolish restrictions on the weight of nuclear missile warheads and develop state-of-the-art military assets. He also instructed the military to remain its combat readiness to be able to respond to North Korea's provocations immediately. President Moon urged relevant agencies to assess the possible impact of the latest missile launch on the successful hosting of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and to keep the situation under control. President Moon ordered the National Security Council meeting at 3:24 a.m. Wednesday shortly after receiving two reports from national security advisor Chung Eui-yong two minutes after Pyongyang's missile launch. Immediately after the missile firing, South Korea, the United States and Japan requested a U.N. Security Council emergency meeting. The U.N. Security Council has responded by saying that the emergency meeting will take place on Thursday at the U.N. headquarters in New York.