Kang Shin-cheol "Even at this hour, North Korea is launching multiple missiles... a threat to regional security."

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jeon Myung-hoon = Minister of National Defense Kang Shin-cheol, who attended the ASEAN Enlarged Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM-Plus), criticized North Korea's ballistic missile provocations, saying, "Even today, at this hour, North Korea is launching multiple missiles, threatening the security of the Korean Peninsula and the region."

Minister Kang said this in a speech at the 13th ADMM-Plus plenary session held in Cebu, Philippines on the 29th.

After receiving a report on North Korea's ballistic missile launch during the meeting on this day, Minister Kang immediately reflected this content in a speech prepared in advance. North Korea launched about 10 short-range ballistic missiles in the Wonsan area of ​​Gangwon-do at around 12:30 p.m. on this day.

Minister Kang mentioned the incident in which a South Korean soldier was seriously injured by a land mine installed by North Korea south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) last month, and pointed out that it was "a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement and an act of provocation."

He emphasized, "In a situation where inter-Korean communication channels are cut off, there is a high risk that the crisis will escalate into a conflict," and added, "I hope that North Korea will respond favorably to the inter-Korean military talks proposed by our government twice last year and this year and come out as a venue for dialogue."

At this meeting, Minister Kang presented the direction of Korea's defense cooperation for regional peace.

In addition, it was announced that it would promote 'ROK-ASEAN maritime joint training' in 2027 and take on the role of co-chair of the ADMM-Plus Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) expert subcommittee from 2027.

The meeting was attended by defense ministers and high-level defense-related figures from 11 ASEAN countries and dialogue partners including the United States, China, Japan, and Russia.

Minister Kang, who took office on the 22nd of last month, debuted on the stage of an international multilateral conference through this meeting.

On this day's meeting, Minister Kang met with Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Richard Marles and took a commemorative photo.

The day before, they had their first face-to-face meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and agreed to hold the 58th ROK-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) early next year after a bilateral meeting in Washington next month. They also met with the defense ministers of Malaysia, India, and the Philippines in succession to discuss regional security issues.