SEOUL, December 18. /TASS/. The full responsibility for complicating the situation that may follow the launch of a long-range ballistic missile lies with North Korea, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
"North Korea continues its dangerous provocations despite repeated warnings from our army. We once again sternly warn that all responsibility for any further development lies with North Korea," the Yonhap News TV quoted a senior member of the committee, Major General Lee Seung-o, as saying.
The senior defense official called for an immediate halt to "provocative actions that cause rising military tension in the region." The South Korean armed forces pointed out that North Korean ballistic missile launches violate UN Security Council resolutions and pose a threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. It reiterated that North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan from the capital area on December 18.
South Korean media speculated that the launch may have been in response to the results of the second meeting of the US-South Korean Nuclear Consultative Group. The North Korean Defense Ministry criticized it. The country launched a short-range ballistic missile on December 17. On the same day, the US Virginia-class nuclear submarine Missouri arrived in the South Korean city of Busan.
Earlier, South Korea's First Deputy Director of the National Security Office, Kim Tae-hyo, said that North Korea may launch an intercontinental ballistic missile in December.