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| South Korean President Moon Jae-in |
SEOUL, June 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in launched a strong warning against North Korea Thursday, saying the communist state will only get further isolation and international sanctions from its missile provocations.
The remarks came hours after the North fired what appeared to be surface-to-ship cruise missiles from its east coast.
The short-range missiles apparently posed no immediate threat to South Korean and U.S. forces here, but they marked the North's fifth missile or rocket launch since the Moon Jae-in administration came into office on May 10.
"The only things North Korea can gain from these provocations are economic isolation and economic difficulties," the president was quoted as saying in the first National Security Council meeting he chaired since his inauguration.
"They will lose their opportunities for development," he added, according to Park Soo-hyun, a spokesman for the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.
But should the North decide to give up its nuclear ambitions, it will win the support of South Korea and the rest of the international community for its development, the president added.
"When the North shows its willingness to denuclearize, it will win the international community's support and cooperation. If the North shows its willingness to denuclearize, we will be the first to help it win the international community's support and cooperation," the South Korean leader told the NSC meeting.
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