Unification Ministry scurrying to determine N.K. intentions
SEOUL, July 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Unification Ministry held an emergency meeting Wednesday after North Korea allegedly test-launched a long-range missile despite repeated warnings from the United States and Japan, officials said.
Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok convened an emergency meeting to determine the objective of the missile launch, which is expected to prompt the U.S. and its allies to take punitive actions such as harsher economic sanctions against the communist state, ministry officials said.
The meeting also focused on what countermeasures South Korea would take on the missile launch, they said.
Last month, Lee indicated South Korea would halt its food and fertilizer aid to the North if it pushes ahead with the launch.
North Korea had abided by a self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile launches since it stunned the region in 1998 by test-firing a Taepodong-1 missile over Japan which landed in the Pacific.
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