U.S. military condemns N.K. missile launches, calls for return to dialogue

The U.S. military on Wednesday condemned North Korea's latest round of ballistic missile launches and called on the recalcitrant regime to refrain from "unlawful" and "destabilizing" acts. U.S. Indo-Pacific Command issued a statement after Pyongyang fired some 10 short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Thursday morning (Korea time), a day after sending hundreds of large balloons carrying trash and manure into the South. "The United States condemns these actions and calls on the DPRK to refrain from further unlawful and destabilizing acts," the command said, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "We continue to monitor the situation. The U.S. commitments to the defense of the ROK and Japan remain ironclad," it added. ROK is short for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea. In response to a question from Yonhap News Agency, a State Department spokesperson called on Pyongyang to refrain from provocative actions and return to diplomacy. The North's launches came after it made a botched attempt to launch a military reconnaissance satellite on Monday under a plan to launch three more satellites this year. It successfully put its first military spy satellite into orbit in November. Source: Yonhap News Agency