Acting President Choi Sang-mok has vowed to respond sternly to any provocations from North Korea based on the solid South Korea-U.S. alliance. 

Choi made the pledge Tuesday at the start of a Cabinet meeting, condemning the North’s recent missile launch as a clear violation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions and a serious threat to the security of the Korean Peninsula and the world. 

North Korea said earlier on Tuesday that it successfully tested a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile the previous day. 

The acting president ordered the defense ministry and the military to establish an ironclad security posture to deal with additional provocations from the North. 

Choi also instructed ministries preparing their policy plans for this year to make their briefings completely different from those of previous years, stressing that the government must dispel concerns about the nation’s sovereign credit rating and changes in global trade.