France condemns North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - France condemned "in the strongest terms" North Korea’s recent ballistic missile launch in a statement Monday, saying it is a "further violation" of UN Security Council resolutions.

“France assures the Republic of Korea and Japan of its full solidarity. It urges North Korea to immediately halt its destabilizing actions, comply with its international obligations without delay and return to the negotiating table with a view to engaging in a process of full, verifiable and irreversible abandonment of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” said the statement.

The ministry noted that France is "fully mobilized" with its partners to ensure that the relevant resolutions are implemented, and it encourages dialogue between all the parties.

South Korea and Japan said Sunday that North Korea launched an intermediate-range class ballistic missile, the first such missile fire this year, saying it flew around 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

Later, North Korea said it successfully tested a solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) “loaded with a hypersonic maneuverable controlled warhead,” saying the launch “never affected the security of any neighboring country and had nothing to do with the regional situation."​​​​​​​

The launch marked the first-ever test of a solid-fuel hypersonic IRBM.