January 1, 2023
North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile from Pyongang’s Ryongsong District toward the Sea of Japan at around 1:50 Taipei time on January 1, again increasing regional tension. The governments of the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea have strongly condemned North Korea for its provocative action.
Since January 2022, North Korea has tested intercontinental, medium-range, and short-range ballistic missiles as well as cruise missiles. It is also making preparations to resume nuclear test explosions, further escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula and the Indo-Pacific region. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) strongly condemns North Korea for willfully test-firing a missile on the first day of 2023 in disregard of United Nations Security Council prohibitions and for jeopardizing regional peace and stability.
Both important members of the Indo-Pacific community, Taiwan and the Republic of Korea alike face military threats from communist dictatorial regimes. Last August, China conducted large-scale live-fire exercises around Taiwan. Many like-minded nations, including the Republic of Korea, the United States, and Japan, expressed serious concern over China’s threatening military behavior. The Republic of Korea reiterated the importance of cross-strait peace and stability in its Strategy for a Free, Peaceful, and Prosperous Indo-Pacific Region, which was issued on December 28. Expressing an opposition to the unilateral use of force to change the regional status quo, the report also stresses that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are important to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the security and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific.
Taiwan will continue to closely follow North Korea’s military threats and provocative actions. It will work with like-minded countries to promote peace, prosperity, and denuclearization across the Korean Peninsula; deter authoritarian expansion and aggression; uphold the rules-based international order; and safeguard a free, open, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific.