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UN calls for efforts to sustain US-North Korea talks

Thu, 03 Oct 2019

United Nations, Oct 3

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has voiced concern over the latest missile launch by North Korea and asked Pyongyang and Washington to sustain talks toward denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile off its east coast Wednesday morning local time, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"The launch is very concerning. The launch of a ballistic missile is yet another violation of Security Council resolutions," Xinhua quoted UN chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric as saying on Wednesday.

"Ahead of what we've learned of the resumption of working-level talks between the North Korea and the US later this week, the Secretary-General hopes that both parties work to sustain these talks and to make progress on the implementation of the June 12, 2018, U.S.-N Korea joint declaration toward denuclearisation, and sustainable peace on the peninsula," Dujarric told a regular press briefing.

The missile, which flew about 450 km at a maximum flying altitude of around 910 km, was estimated to have been a Pukkuksong-type submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), said the South Korean military.

If confirmed, Wednesday's launch would be North Korea's first SLBM test-launch in over three years.

UN calls for efforts to sustain US-North Korea talks

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