S. Korea’s President Moon Condemns North’s Missile Test Amid Dialogue Efforts

South Korean President Moon Jae-in had expressed his concerns over recent missile launches by North Korea, mentioned that actions that could hinder the dialogue efforts being made are "undesirable," said in a statement on Friday.

President Moon also assured people that the country is fully ready to respond to any provocation that could be done by Pyongyang on the firm stance of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, boasting South Korea's advanced missiles and a strong military.

The statement was made after the earlier admission of North Korea that it had test-fired on Thursday its 2 new tactical guided missiles, just four days after testing its short-range cruise missile done on Sunday and received a shrug off from Seoul and Washington authorities which they called as normal military testing.

The projectiles that were fired on Thursday were North Korea's first ballistic missile launch since US President Joe Biden took office in January. The said launch also violated the UN Security Council resolutions.

The recent launches could be North's way of showing its force and may intend to demonstrate influence amid a continuing review of the United States on North Korea policies which the North called are "hostile."

Moreover, US National Security Council will be hosting next week the security advisers of Japan and South Korea in Washington before the completion of the final draft in the coming weeks of its new policies for North Korea.

President Moon delivered a speech at the Yellow Sea Defense Day, a commemoration done every fourth Friday of March every year since 2016 for all those who were killed in west coast waters during the three provocations of North Korea in 2002 and 2010.

This year is the 11th anniversary of two of the three of the incidents. On March 26, 2010, North Korea sank the "Cheonan" warship of South Korea, while Nov. 23, 2010, North Korea's artillery fired at Yeonpyeongdo, an island in the Yellow sea.