But critics said the launch was a cover for testing a ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead – a test that is banned by multiple Security Council resolutions.
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North Korea said on Saturday that it had fired a Kwangmyongsong-4 (the name translates as “lode star”), a newer-model satellite than the one launched three years ago and one that it said was equipped with devices for Earth measurement and communication.
A satellite sent into space by North Korea is in orbit but it is not yet clear whether it is working, South Korea’s defence ministry has said. South Korean officials have resisted previous efforts to place the weapons system on their territory because THAAD’s radar systems would be able to scan territory that includes mainland China, a no-go with Beijing.
Meanwhile Samantha Power from the U.S. has begun pushing for the Security Council to prepare a resolution for tough new sanctions to be imposed on the already isolated nation.
Motohide Yoshikawa, center, Japan’s Ambassador to the United Nations, speaks to the media following a Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016.
Mr Hammond said: “What we will be doing, the United States and Japan will be doing, is seeking to persuade the Chinese that it’s in the interests of all the worldwide community now to apply some more direct economic pressure on North Korea at this point”.
Juche is a North Korean philosophy focusing on self-reliance; the Day of the Shining Star refers to the February 16 birthday of Kim Jong Un’s father, former dictator Kim Jong Il.
North Korea has spent decades trying to develop operational nuclear weapons.
“Even if not, it gained experience with launching and learned more about the reliability of its rocket systems”.
In January, Pyongyang carried out its latest nuclear test explosion, and yesterday it launched a ballistic missile.
The UN Security Council is expected to hold emergency consultations today to address this issue.
In another development, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be in Hawaii, home to U.S. Pacific Command, to discuss North Korea’s launch with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts this week.
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North Korea has said that plutonium and highly enriched uranium facilities at its main Nyongbyon nuclear complex are in operation.
