Arab News Japan

TOKYO: The G7 foreign ministers issued a statement on Thursday calling the launch of a ballistic missile by North Korea “a further blatant violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions” that “undermines international peace and security as well as the global non-proliferation regime.”

“We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union, condemn in the strongest terms the test of yet another Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) conducted on May 25, 2022, by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),” the statement said. 

The foreign ministers expressed great concern “by the unprecedented series of ballistic missile tests with increasingly versatile systems across all ranges” carried out recently by North Korea and warned, “These reckless actions flagrantly breach the DPRK’s obligations under relevant UN Security Council resolutions, which the Security Council most recently reaffirmed in resolution 2397 (2017).”

The ministers reiterated calls for the DPRK to abandon its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs “in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.”

They also criticized the Security Council for failing “to adopt the draft resolution aimed at condemning the series of recent ballistic missile launches by the DPRK and strengthening measures against it despite support from 13 members.” They called for action by the Security Council and negotiations with North Korea. 

“We reiterate our call on the DPRK to engage in diplomacy toward denuclearization and accept the repeated offers of dialogue put forward by the United States, the Republic of Korea and Japan.” In doing so, they also criticized North Korea for aggravating “the already dire humanitarian situation in the DPRK” by diverting funds for food to missiles.