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Russian MP comments on North Korea’s new missile launch

A lawmaker says the new missile launch proves sanctions and pressure are useless

© AP Photo/Vincent Thian

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. North Korea’s new missile launch is a challenge for the entire global community but the need still remains to search for ways to resume talks and prevent the use of force to resolve this issue, Chairman of the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) Committee for Foreign Affairs Leonid Slutsky told reporters on Friday.

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"North Korea’s new missile test comes only three days after the United Nations Security Council adopted a new resolution tightening sanctions against Pyongyang, which is a clear challenge for the global community," the senior Russian lawmaker said. "Pyongyang continues its dangerous ‘game of nerves’," Slutsky pointed out. He added that "Russia never supported such provocations, as well as North Korea’s self-proclaimed nuclear status."

"The new missile test should be condemned by all means. By its actions, Pyongyang continues to create threats to regional and global security," he stressed.

However, in his opinion, the new missile launch "proves the uselessness of sanctions and pressure - which is what the Russian president pointed to." "There is a need to search for a diplomatic solution to the North Korea issue rather than hold military drills near North Korea’s borders, threatening to conduct preventive strikes and reciprocal missile launches," Slutsky said. "Taking into account Pyongyang’s unpredictability, the use of force should be prevented. But the West is still unwilling to provide security and non-aggression guarantees to North Korea," the Russian legislator concluded.

On Friday, North Korea fired another ballistic missile, which flew over Japan’s Hokkaido Island and plunged into the Pacific Ocean about 2,200 kilometers east of Cape Erimo. Since 1998, it is the sixth North Korean missile to fly over Japan. According to the South Korean military, the missile was launched from the Pyongyang area.

According to the Korean Central News Agency, North Korean military has presented to the country’s leader Kim Jong-un a plan of missile launches in the direction of the Guam Island, aimed at demonstrating Pyongyang’s capability to attack US military facilities, including Andersen Air Force Base, home B-52 strategic bombers.

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