Moscow, Mar 20 (Agency) The G7 foreign ministers on Sunday strongly condemned the latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by North Korea and noted its destabilizing effect on regional peace and security, according to their joint statement. “We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union, condemn in the strongest terms North Korea’s March 16 launch of yet another Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), which undermines regional and international peace and security,” the statement said.
Since last year, Pyongyang “has intensified its escalatory actions through a record number of ballistic missile launches and its continued irresponsible and destabilizing rhetoric regarding the use of nuclear weapons,” the document noted. “We reiterate our demand that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons, existing nuclear programs, and any other weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner and fully comply with all obligations under the relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs),” the statement said.