But despite the global chorus of disapproval and tough sanctions, Pyongyang is unrepentant – continuing to ignore the worldwide community’s calls for a halt to its weapons program.
Advertisement
Tensions have been higher on the Korean peninsula following a series of tests by North Korea at the start of the year, including an atomic test.
The launches came as world leaders gathered in neighbouring China for the Group of 20 summit, sparking condemnation from Japan and the United States, which blasted them as “reckless”. That missile flew 500 kilometres towards Japan, far exceeding the range of the North’s previous sub-launched missiles.
“The members of the Security Council strongly condemned the ballistic missile launches conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on 5 September 2016”, the statement said.
The council adopted the press statement after holding an urgent meeting to discuss the North’s launches of three medium-range Rodong ballistic missiles on Monday.
“I felt very encouraged that in the council meeting itself, there was a much stronger show of unity”, Japan’s Ambassador Koro Bessho said.
“The DPRK’s missile test helped it threaten the territory of even more countries in the region, whether through its land-based missiles or now via its recently tested submarine-launched ballistic missiles”.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said “the Security Council must remain unequivocal and united in condemnation of these tests and we must take action to enforce the words we put on paper – to enforce our resolutions”. These launches are in grave violation of the DPRK’s worldwide obligations under relevant Security Council resolutions, said the 15-nation Council in a press statement.
Hahn Choong Hee, South Korea’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said Pyongyang was spending “a considerable amount” of its resources in developing weapons of mass destruction while sacrificing the living conditions of North Koreans. But he didn’t mention any further council action.
“I would note there were very strong and numerous voices in the room for doing more”, Samantha Power, the USA ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters.
The March sanctions, among other things, also require mandatory inspections of cargo leaving and entering North Korea by land, sea or air; a ban on all sales or transfers of small arms and light weapons to Pyongyang; and expulsion of diplomats from the North who engage in “illicit activities”.
In the statement, the Security Council members also reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in North-East Asia at large and expressed their commitment to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution to the situation. AP material published by LongIsland.com, is done so with explicit permission. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.
Advertisement
“We have over many years seen North Korea try to find ways to evade sanctions, try to find ways to access foreign currency, try to find ways to access sensitive technologies using front-companies for their activities”.
