We Must Continue to Work with Other Countries to Keep Peace and Security in the Region – Legarda

FOLLOWING THE FAILED ROCKET LAUNCH OF NORTH KOREA, SENATOR LOREN LEGARDA, CHAIR OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, TODAY URGED THE GOVERNMENT TO CONTINUE WORKING WITH OTHER COUNTRIES IN A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT TO KEEP PEACE AND ENSURE LONG-TERM SECURITY IN THE REGION.
“There are as many failures and successes in launches like this. We cannot be looking at the North Korean missile launch situation on a piecemeal basis. The missile launch should be seen in the context of how these developments affect regional peace and security,” Legarda stressed.
The Senator explained that such situation is best addressed through a multilateral approach. The ASEAN was used as a platform for expressing the country’s position on this issue. US, South Korea and Japan have joined the country in opposing the launch.
“The Philippines needs to continue to engage with our regional security partners to ensure that our voice and our concerns are considered as big players plot their next steps,” she said.
Legarda also said that the government must take proactive steps to possibly prevent similar events from transpiring in the future and stressed that gaining immediate access to accurate information through proper and regular discussions and coordination with other countries will help the Philippines plan its approach when security-related instances similar to North Korea’s rocket launch happen.
The Senator further urged the government to continue to be constructively engaged with North Korea to help it get into a democratic trajectory.
On April 13, North Korea launched a rocket, which they claimed would put a satellite into orbit, but disintegrated over the Yellow Sea a few minutes after launching. Had it been successful, pieces of debris from the rocket were expected to fall in several areas in the northern part of the Philippines.
However, due to this failure, other nations are already anticipating a more perilous subsequent action from North Korea such as a nuclear test.