“The situation on the Korean Peninsula, including the latest ballistic missile launches, is deeply troubling”, Ban’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
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The Rodong is a scaled-up Scud variant with a maximum range of around 1,300 kilometres (800 miles). It flew a distance of about 800 kilometers and fell into the Sea of Japan. The second missile disappeared from the authorities’ radar at an altitude of around 17 km and is believed to have exploded in midair.
And Friday, the North launched two medium range missiles into the sea.
The measures were introduced after Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test and fired a rocket that was widely seen as a disguised ballistic missile test.
South Korea’s defence ministry said Friday’s launches were clearly the result of Kim’s order.
A high-level meeting on North Korea sanctions attended by officials from the U.S. State, Treasury and Commerce Departments together is highly unusual.
“What we see yet again is the North Koreans defying the will of the global community and the Security Council”, he said.
In light of the North’s ballistic missile launches on March 18 and March 10, the council urged all countries “to redouble their efforts” to implement all sanctions against the country.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the launch and said his government would coordinate its response with the US, South Korea and other nations concerned.
In 2013 North Korea sentenced Korean-American tour operator Kenneth Bae to 15 years of hard labor after being convicted of hostile acts against the reclusive state. In a statement on March 17, US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Pyongyang to “refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its global commitments and obligations”. At the time, Kim called for “conducting nuclear warhead detonation testing in the near future, along with test launches for various kinds of ballistic rockets that are capable of carrying a nuclear warhead”.
The country has conducted four nuclear tests, the most recent one in January. The test was a complete success, state media said, and provided a “sure guarantee” of the warhead’s ability to withstand the intense heat and vibration of re-entering the earth’s atmosphere.
He expressed hope before the meeting that the council would unite to tell North Korea to change its policy – and that means dismantling their nuclear program and halting the use of missile technology, and using “that money to feed the people and make the life better for the North Koreans”. South Korean markets shrugged off the latest launches, with the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closing at a yearly high Friday, and the Korean won climbing to its highest level against the USA dollar this year.
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The UN Security Council on Friday condemned North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launches, calling them “unacceptable”, a clear violation of UN resolutions banning such tests, and a threat to regional and worldwide security.
