National security office convenes meeting over N. Korea's missile launch

The presidential National Security Office convened a meeting Monday to discuss North Korea's firing of a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile launch.

Yin Sung-hwan, the second deputy director of the National Security Office, presided over the meeting with the military and other related agencies to discuss North Korea's missile launch and responses, the presidential office said.

"The government will closely monitor North Korea's movements and maintain firm readiness to respond to any provocations," the office of the presidential spokesperson said in a notice to the press.

The North's first missile launch of the year took place as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Seoul for talks with his South Korean counterpart amid political turmoil in the stemming from President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived martial law declaration last month. (Yonhap)