Germany’s Scholz calls on North Korea to halt missile tests
- ‘These ballistic tests must stop. The attempt to give itself a nuclear boost must stop. This is a threat to peace and security in the region,’ Scholz said
- The increase in missile tests and nuclear weapons programmes since Kim Jong-un took power in 2011, are a ‘dangerous situation’, Scholz warned
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called on North Korea to stop its nuclear and missile tests as he visited South Korea, speaking from the border that divides the peninsula.
“These ballistic tests must stop. The attempt to give itself a nuclear boost must stop. This is a threat to peace and security in the region,” Scholz said.
Regional tensions have risen significantly since Kim Jong-un took power in North Korea at the end of 2011, mainly due to missile tests and Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.
Four of the six nuclear tests by North Korea so far were carried out under Kim. He also pressed ahead with the development of ballistic missiles.
Such missiles are usually surface-to-surface missiles which can also carry a nuclear warhead, depending on their design.
Scholz called this an “unchanged dangerous situation”. He said the visit to the border was very important and moving in view of the German division between 1949 and 1990. “Germany is now reunited. That is a great fortune that we have”.
Visiting the Korean border showed how lucky this is, he said.