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UN Security Council condemns North Korea missile launches

North Korean state media have not commented on the reported launch.

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South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said later Friday its surveillance equipment detected the trajectory of a suspected second missile fired from a site where the North’s confirmed first launch occurred.

Kim urged Pyongyang to “refrain from all provocative actions, including missile tests, which are clearly in violation of Security Council resolutions”.

Seoul government officials said they were fully prepared for the possibility of another North Korean underground nuclear test.

A defense official told CNN the United States tracked two ballistic missiles, adding it appears to be a Rodong missile fired from a road-mobile launcher.

North Korea often fires missiles during periods of tension on the Korean peninsula. The resolution also condemned the North’s firing of short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on March 10, in response to new sanctions from South Korea.

In an unanimous statement, it said the launches “constituted a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions”. The Korean Central News Agency did not mention when the drills were conducted, but experts believe it was Friday, when the Seoul-Washington training exercise called Key Resolve ended.

North Korea leader Kim Jong-un vowed another nuclear test and ballistic missiles “in a short time” last Tuesday.

Two weeks ago, the Security Council responded to the nuclear test and rocket launch by unanimously approving the toughest-ever sanctions against North Korea.

Last week, Pyongyang’s ambassador to the United Nations sent an open letter of protest to the Security Council which called the drills “a grave threat” to his country.

“The military is closely monitoring activities related (to the launches) and maintains readiness for any situation”, it said. The Defence Ministry in Seoul would not immediately confirm any launches.

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As their countries’ chief envoys to the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, Kim Hong-kyun and Sung Kim will hold separate talks on Tuesday.

A woman walks past a public television screen showing file footage of a North Korean missile at a railway station in Seoul