The German Government condemns today’s test of a submarine-launched medium-range missile by North Korea and calls on Pyongyang to adhere to international law and to discontinue all missile tests. By conducting this test, North Korea is once again flagrantly breaching relevant UN Security Council resolutions and endangering our close partners in the region.
The nature of this test – the eleventh missile test this year – poses a further escalation. At the same time, the test goes completely against North Korea’s announcements on its wish to resume talks on denuclearisation with the United States. Pyongyang must finally act upon the international community’s demands and prove that it is serious about this offer of dialogue. The confidence-building, which North Korea in particular has repeatedly called for, must not be put to the test time and again by such provocations. The goal remains the internationally legally binding, complete, verifiable and irreversible end of North Korea’s ballistic missiles programmes and its programmes to develop weapons of mass destruction.