South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who is serving as the acting president, on Monday denounced the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s attempt to advance its missile capability.

During a cabinet meeting, Hwang strongly condemned Pyongyang's attempt to continue to advance in its missile capability through "endless test launches," expressing deep concerns about it.

He has served as an interim president since President Park Geun-hye was impeached on Dec. 9.

His comments followed the UN Security Council's unanimous condemnation of the DPRK's most recent launches of ballistic missiles on Sunday and in October last year.

The DPRK test-launched an intermediate-range Pukguksong-2 ballistic missile for the first time on Sunday, soaring 550 km and traveling 500 km towards the country's eastern waters. In October, the country test-fired a Musudan ballistic missile that is known to have a range of 3,000-4,000 km.

Hwang said those launches were provocative acts that can never be tolerated as it threatens peace in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia and it is a flagrant challenge to the UN Security Council resolutions and repeated warnings from the international community.

He instructed cabinet members to closely cooperate with the international society and its allied nations to make the DPRK give up its nuclear and missile programs through strong sanctions and UN Security Council resolutions.

source: Xinhua