The G7 Foreign Ministers issued a statement on Tuesday condemning North Korea’s launch on October 31 of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), which landed in the sea. The United Nations also expressed concern over the missile launch and the potential threat it poses to “regional stability.”

The G7 statement condemned the missile launch “in the strongest terms,” and called for “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” It demanded that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) cease its nuclear program, ballistic missile program, and any programs and activities related to “other weapons of mass destruction,” in line with UN Security Council resolutions.

We deplore that the DPRK once again chose to prioritize its unlawful weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs over the welfare of the people in DPRK. The DPRK continues to advance its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities to escalate its destabilizing activities.

The UN office at Geneva issued a meeting in response to the missile launch. This is, according to the UN, the DPRK’s 11th ICBM launch. Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari commented that the ICBM launch also creates “serious risks to international civil aviation and maritime traffic, with the potential for unintended incidents, as North Korea had issued no safety alerts.”

Japan also expressed concern over the launches during the meeting, highlighting that this recent test “landed around only 200 kilometres from the Japanese island of  Hokkaido” and that “due to its trajectory and flight time,” was “more threatening than ever.”

The Republic of Korea brought attention to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, a landmark treaty which aims to promote nuclear disarmament, promote international peace and uphold international law. UN Ambassador Hwang warned that:

Once the [nuclear non-proliferation treaty] begins to erode and ultimately collapses, it will be extremely difficult to restore it… The repercussion will have a deep and lasting impact on international peace and security…

China took a neutral stance and called on all parties to use pragmatism to “prioritize peace and stability,” while Russia expressed that the West was seeking to “demonize” the DPRK.

The DPRK’s ambassador responded that the missile test did not have a major impact on the security of neighboring countries, and expressed that the UN meeting was “contrary to the spirit of the UN Charter of state sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs” and was an example of “extreme double standards.”