State Department Spokesperson, Vedant Patel, said that the U.S. maintains its “ironclad” commitment to Japan and South Korea after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years.
PATEL: “We condemn this dangerous and reckless launch of a long-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan and it posed an unacceptable threat to the Japanese public. This action is a clear violation of multiple resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council and it again demonstrates the threat that the DPRK holds both as it relates to its unlawful weapons of mass destruction program, but also its ballistic missiles program and the threat that it poses to its neighbors as well. Together with the international community, we call on the DPRK to refrain from further provocations and to engage in sustained and substantive dialogue. We continue to consult closely with our allies as is evidenced by the number of high-level communications that have happened from across the interagency with their counterparts and I’d also reiterate that our commitments to Japan and the Republic of Korea are ironclad.”
