South Korea's military issued a stern warning against North Korea after it claimed to have fired a solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile(IRBM) carrying a hypersonic warhead. The South Korean military called it a clear provocation, urging the regime to immediately suspend such missile activities.

In a statement on Monday, Seoul's defense ministry said the latest provocation is a violation of United Nations Security Council(UNSC) resolutions that ban Pyongyang's use of ballistic missile technology.

The ministry said Seoul is enhancing its ability to execute comprehensive extended deterrence methods with Washington in response to Pyongyang's various missile threats, while bolstering its own response, such as the three-pronged defense system.

Keeping tabs on developments in the North as part of an ironclad combined defense posture with the U.S., the South Korean military pledged to immediately and strongly counter any of the North's direct provocations.

Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) said Pyongyang fired an IRBM towards the East Sea from its capital area at around 2:55 p.m. Sunday, with the missile traveling over one-thousand kilometers before falling into the sea.

[Photo : YONHAP News]