Marcos renews call for peace in Korean Peninsula

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. emphasized the need to enforce new peace efforts in the Korean Peninsula amid North Korea's recent missile tests. 

Marcos raised the concern during the courtesy call of Komeito Party Chief Representative Yamaguchi Natsuo in Malacañang Palace on Wednesday.

"But beyond what is happening…we also have continuing great concern on the actuations, shall we say, of North Korea with Japan, (would) be in very much, what we could call the line of fire. But this is something that although we would say is not top of mind in terms of security and defense,” Marcos said in a press release issued Thursday.

“We consider it a critical issue that, really, we in the region must work together very, very hard to try to alleviate the tensions, to try to make all the proponents of peace in the region be the dominant voice," he added.

North Korea has been conducting a series of missile launches and weapons tests in recent months that has put Japan on heightened alert.

The two ballistic missiles fired by North Korea last month appeared to have fallen outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, according to a Reuters report.

Together with the United States and South Korea, Japan has since condemned North Korea's firing of missiles, saying that this action has shown "the threat the DPRK's unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs pose to the region, international peace and security, and the global non-proliferation regime."

Marcos earlier called on North Korea to comply with the United Nations Security Council resolutions as he expressed concern over its firing of ballistic missiles. —Anna Felicia Bajo/ VAL, GMA Integrated News