Spain expels North Korean ambassador over missile and nuke program

Jane Onyanga-Omara | USA TODAY

Spain has announced it is expelling the North Korean envoy in response to the reclusive nation's missile launches over Japan, and nuclear program.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry said that Ambassador Kim Hyok Chol was summoned and told that he would have to leave by the end of the month.

Spain's Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis told reporters Monday in New York, where he is attending the U.N. General Assembly, that Spain had warned Kim Hyok Chol that there would be consequences if the country continued with the tests.

North Korea launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan on Friday in protest against tough new sanctions imposed last week by the U.N. Security Council after Pyongyang conducted its sixth, and most powerful, nuclear test on Sept. 3. Friday's missile launch was the second over Japan in less than a month.

Today the Ambassador of #NorthKorea #DPRK in Spain has been declared persona non grata. — SpainMFA 🇪🇸 (@SpainMFA) September 18, 2017

North Korea will be among the top issues discussed at the U.N. General Assembly.

Japan on Tuesday moved a mobile missile-defense system on the northern island of Hokkaido to a base near the recent North Korean missile flyover routes in preparation for a possible emergency.

Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor unit was deployed at the Hakodate base on southern Hokkaido “as a precaution.”

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Contributing: The Associated Press