The Government of Hungary condemns in the strongest terms the ballistic missile test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on July 4, 2017.

The launch of the missile - that landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone - took place a few days following the meeting between the Presidents of the Republic of Korea and the United States of America in Washington. This step by the DPRK has demonstrated again that it intends to escalate the situation and that it rejects all forms of cooperation with the international community.  We strongly urge North Korea to refrain from any further provocations, immediately and fully comply with its international obligations under all relevant UN Security Council resolutions as well as the 2005 Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks.

North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and reckless provocations constitute one of the gravest threats to global safety and security today. We must increase the diplomatic and economic pressure on the North Korean leadership to abandon their plans threatening regional and global peace. Hungary welcomes the even closer coordination between responsible members of the international community to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. We urge every country involved to commit completely in order to stop the leadership in Pyongyang.

Hungary supports a swift resumption of negotiations to increase the safety and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the region. First, North Korea must take concrete steps towards dismantling its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes to establish an atmosphere in which negotiations are possible. Ultimately, Pyongyang must abandon all nuclear and ballistic missile programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner if it wants to be a member of the international community again.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)