German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baebock and her South Korean counterpart, Park Jin, both condemned North Korea's recent missile launches at a news conference in Seoul on Saturday (15 April), Reuters reports.
"North Korea's aggressive behaviour and constant breaches of international law, and will therefore continue to participate in monitoring the sanctions," Baebock said at a news conference, a day after North Korea announced that it had tested a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which experts said would facilitate missile launches with little warning.
On China, Baebock said that Beijing is Germany's largest trading partner, but it was important to acknowledge that they have been creating their own rules rather than following "rule-based international order."
In a departure from the policies of Germany's former chancellor, Angela Merkel, Olaf Scholz's government is developing a new China strategy to reduce dependence on Asia's economic superpower, until now a vital export market for German goods.
Both foreign ministers reiterated their opposition to Russian aggression in Ukraine.
