Philippines laments North Korea's continued weapons use
RETRANSMISSION WITH TRANSLATION - A man watches a TV screen showing a local news program reporting North Korea's missile launch at the Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. North Korea abruptly ended a 10-week pause in its weapons testing by launching what the Pentagon said was an intercontinental ballistic missile, apparently its longest-range test yet, a move that will escalate already high tensions with Washington. The Korean letters read "Fired ballistic missile." AP/Lee Jin-man
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government called on North Korea to commit to making meaningful progress to resolving the tensions in the Korean Peninsula.
Manila also lamented Pyongyang's continued weapons testing following the latter's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday.
The Philippines expressed serious concern as such development increases tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
“Meaningful dialogue can only happen when the DPRK ceases such provocative and highly dangerous actions,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said.
Cayetano also reiterated the readiness of ASEAN to play a constructive role to help reduce tensions and promote peace in the region.
The ASEAN foreign ministers had released statements earlier this year urging Pyongyang to halt its weapons development and return to negotiations.
The Philippines' foreign service posts in Seoul, Tokyo and Osaka are closely monitoring the situation and providing up-to-date information to Filipino communities in South Korea and Japan.
READ: North Korea launches ICBM in possibly longest-range test yet
Pyongyang launched another intercontinental ballistic missile from Sain Ni, North Korea and traveled about 1,000 kilometers before landing within 370 nautical kilometers of Japan's coast.
The United States also strongly condemned North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile which threatened its neighbors, the region and global stability.
"Together the international community must continue to send a unified message to North Korea that the D.P.R.K. must abandon its WMD programs. All nations must continue strong economic and diplomatic measures," US State Secretary Rex Tillerson said in a statement.
Washington also called on the international community to take additional measures to enhance maritime security aside from implementing all United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang.
The US and Canada are set to convene a meeting with the UN Command Sending States, which includes Japan, South Korea and other key affected countries to discuss how to address North Korea's threat to international peace.
"Diplomatic options remain viable and open, for now. The United States remains committed to finding a peaceful path to denuclearization and to ending belligerent actions by North Korea," Tillerson said.
North Korea, meanwhile, confirmed that it has successfully tested new intercontinental ballistic missile capable of "striking all of US continent."
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