In a highly provocative move, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, regime launched strategic cruise missiles from a submarine on March 12.
These actions only serve to heighten tensions in the region, warned out-going State Department spokesperson Ned Price:
“The DPRK’s unannounced cruise missile tests are yet another example of DPRK actions that threaten regional peace and stability. They also present an unacceptable safety risk to civil aviation and to maritime operations, as well.”
Spokesperson Price affirmed the shared objective of the United States and its allies remains the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The United States, along with the Republic of Korea and Japan, share a vision of an Indo-Pacific that is free and open, said out-going Spokesperson Price:
“The DPRK has consistently posed a challenge to the rules-based order and to the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific. As we continue to see these provocations, we are going to work with our partners in the Indo-Pacific, we’re going to work with our partners on the other side of the Atlantic to hold the DPRK accountable.”
The United States has recently taken steps to clamp down on sanctions evasion and to pursue targets that support the DPRK’s weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.
The DPRK is also subject to a number of UN Security Council resolutions owing to the provocations that it has engaged in recent years. Each of these resolutions were voted on and approved by the permanent five members of the Security Council. Out-going Spokesperson Price encouraged the members of the UN Security Council to again take joint action against the DPRK.
“It is incumbent on all five of those members, including Russia and the PRC [People’s Republic of China], . . . to uphold the commitments that have been signed into international law, and to recognize that a DPRK that is not held to account, that is able to engage in these type of provocations without concerted accountability from the international community, is not in the interest of Russia, it’s not in the interest of China, it’s not in the interest of any country around the world,” he said.
The United States will continue to hold the DPRK accountable while recommitting to the security and defense of its treaty allies.
