The US military condemned the missile launches by the DPRK, but reported that there was no threat in this regard for both the United States and its allies. This is reported in a statement published on the official website of the Indo-Pacific Command of the US Armed Forces on October 19.
"The United States condemns the actions of the DPRK and calls for refraining from any further destabilizing actions. Despite our assessment that this incident does not pose an immediate threat to US employees, the country's territory and our allies, we will continue to monitor the situation," the statement said.
The statement of the American command also emphasizes that the country's commitment to the protection of the Republic of Korea and Japan "remains unshakable."
Earlier on Tuesday, it was reported that senior representatives of Washington and Tokyo held consultations on the issue of new missile tests conducted by North Korea. The parties agreed to continue cooperation on the issue of stabilizing the situation related to the DPRK's nuclear tests.
It is known that the United States has repeatedly stated its attempts to stabilize the situation in the region and called on the DPRK not to resort to the use of nuclear weapons. Thus, US President Joe Biden's special representative for nuclear nonproliferation Jeffrey Eberhardt said on Monday, October 18, at a meeting of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly that Washington is going to continue to cooperate with Pyongyang to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
On October 13, the DPRK representative of Pyongyang at a meeting of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly said that the country would not abuse its nuclear arsenal if there were no attempts by unfriendly states to use nuclear weapons against the republic. He added that North Korea complies with its obligations under the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
The launch of North Korean shells on October 19 took place after the DPRK tested several new weapons systems in September. On September 15, the DPRK launched two ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan, which fell in the exclusive economic zone of Japan.
Western countries have repeatedly applied measures of political pressure on Pyongyang. In particular, the United States used various instruments of influence on the DPRK. So, in January 2021, the US State Department announced its intention to allocate a grant of up to $ 4 million for a program to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the development of the DPRK missile program.
After the DPRK announced the creation of nuclear weapons in February 2005, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1718 in 2006, condemning this nuclear weapons test. By the decision of the UN Security Council, an embargo was imposed on the supply of materials, equipment and a number of weapons to the DPRK that could be used to develop the country's nuclear program. The last time the UN Security Council tightened sanctions against the DPRK's nuclear program was in 2017.
