UK urges North Korea to stop 'provocations' following ballistic missile launches

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Britain has criticized North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launches, saying they violated multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

North Korea’s "ballistic missile launch on 14 January is another breach of multiple UN Security Council resolutions," a spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office said in a statement on Tuesday.

They said unlawful ballistic missile launches continue to destabilize the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula.

"The UK strongly urges the DPRK (North Korea) to stop such provocations and return to dialogue," the spokesperson added.

The statement came after North Korea fired several suspected short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, according to the South Korean military.

Tuesday's launches become the second one this year, after North Korea tested an intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile on Jan. 6 to "counter security threats."

Following North Korea's missile launch, South Korea, the US, and Japan launched joint air drills on Wednesday, according to a Yonhap news report.