Russia disapproves of unilateral responses to DPRK missile test: senior lawmaker

Unilateral responses of some countries to Sunday's missile test by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will only increase tensions, said a senior Russian lawmaker.

"Unilateral actions taken by the United States, the Republic of Korea (ROK) or Japan will only ratchet up the already high tensions," Konstantin Kosachev, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian upper house of parliament, was quoted by RIA Novosti agency as saying on Sunday.

Any response of the international community to the DPRK's missile launch should be made jointly within the frame of the UN Security Council or the six-party talks (the DPRK, the ROK, Russia, China, Japan and the United States), said Kosachev.

Pyongyang fired off what is presumed to be an intermediate-range Musudan ballistic missile, called Hwaseong-10 in the DPRK, from its northwestern North Pyongan province earlier in the day, according to the ROK authorities.

It flew about 500 km and landed in waters off the DPRK's east coast. Musudan can put the entire Japan and the U.S. military base in Guam in its target range as it is known to have a range of 3,000-4,000 km.

Sunday's launch was the first in 2017 and also the first since Donald Trump was sworn in as the U.S. president on Jan. 20. Seoul's military said it was part of armed protest against the new U.S. administration's hard-line stance toward the DPRK.

The ROK foreign ministry said the launch was a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a serious threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the international community. Endi