Malaysia’s U.N. Ambassador Ramlan Bin Ibrahim, the current council president, told reporters after the closed meeting that “there was a general sense of condemnation by most members of the council”.
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North Korea fired a submarine-launched missile on Wednesday that flew about 500 kilometers (311 miles) toward Japan, an indication of improving technological capability for the isolated North Asian country that has conducted a series of missile launches in defiance of United Nations sanctions.
A South Korean defence ministry official told Xinhua that North Korea test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) around 5.30 a.m.
“I do not guess what ridiculous remarks the USA and its followers will make about this test-fire, but I can say their rash acts will only precipitate their self-destruction”, the KCNA quoted Kim as saying. Military officials in the U.S. stated that the missile tested by North Korea today was a KN-11 and confirmed that this type of missile has an operational range of about 500 kilometers. But the North acquiring reliable submarine-launched missiles is a worrying development because they are harder to detect before liftoff.
Defying UN sanctions, the missile flew 500 km toward Japan, reaching its air defense identification zone (ADIZ) for the first time.
The flight distance, which was tracked by South Korea’s military Joint Chiefs of Staff, far exceeded any previous SLBM tests, suggesting significant progress in technical prowess.
The message was voiced by Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida at a press conference that followed a trilateral meeting with his South Korean and Chinese counterparts, Yun Byung-se and Wang-Yi, respectively.
The talks begin as Japan, China and South Korea are themselves at odds over various territorial disputes and a U.S. missile defence system.
At a summit in Tokyo, foreign ministers from Japan, China and South Korea made a rare display of unity by condemning North Korea’s latest missile launch, agreeing to urge the country to refrain from provocation.
The three countries have quarreled on a number of issues – notably territorial disputes and wartime history – and their foreign ministers’ meetings resumed only last year after a two-year hiatus because of strained Chinese-Japanese relations.
A man watches a television news showing file footage of a North Korean missile launch at Incheon airport, west of Seoul, on August 24, 2016.
The North’s latest provocation came on the second day of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian, a Korea-US joint military exercise, to which North Korea has strongly protested and vowed retaliatory action.
North Korea, which sees these drills as a rehearsal for invasion, recently warned they were pushing the Korean peninsula towards the brink of war and threatened a “pre-emptive nuclear strike” in retaliation. “Those threats are coming closer each moment”.
Kim says in a statement Thursday that the test arms the country with fully-equipped nuclear attack capability and puts the US mainland within its striking distance.
Reports from Seoul said the ballistic missile was sacked at 5:30 am local time from “near the coastal city of Sinpo, where a submarine base is located”.
The United Nations Security Council was holding emergency closed consultations on the launch at the request of the United States and Japan.
In June, North Korea, after a string of failures, sent a midrange ballistic missile more than 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) high. Analysts say the flight showed DPRK has made progress in its push to be able to strike USA forces throughout the region.
Last month, the USA and South Korea agreed to deploy a missile defence system to counter threats from the North.
Some civilian experts said they believe the North already has the technology to put warheads on shorter-range missiles that can strike South Korea and Japan.
The South’s military said it “seemed to be aimed at raising military tension in response to the Seoul-Washington military drill”, the Yonhap news agency reports.
The DPRK usually responds to regular South Korea-U.S. military drills with weapons tests and fiery warlike rhetoric.
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Having the ability to fire a missile from a submarine could help North Korea evade a new anti-missile system planned for South Korea and pose a threat even if nuclear-armed North Korea’s land-based arsenal was destroyed, experts said.
