Issued just eleven days after a statement on Pyongyang’s recent submarine-launched ballistic missile test, the new statement says all members are deeply concerned about the launches that were carried out in “flagrant disregard” of its demands. Japan’s Defense Minister Tomomi Inada stated all three missiles fell off the northwestern coast of Hokkaido.
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(Closing) “Following bilateral talks with her US and Japanese counterparts on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, President Park has stepped up the pressure to jointly counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats”.
In June, North Korea tested its fifth and sixth intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
Earlier, the United States called for action toward enforcing Security Council resolutions prohibiting the DPRK’s ballistic missile activities. China, the reclusive North Korea’s main diplomatic ally, joined the criticism.
“With each test, each violation of UN Security Council resolutions – and there have been 22 of them so far this year – the DPRK demonstrates further advancement of its ballistic program”, U.S. envoy Samantha Power said.
Speaking for Japan, Bessho added, “We think that it is necessary for us to think about what additional actions the council can take in unanimity, in unity in bringing about a change in the North Korean behavior”.
However, Park Geun-hye admitted the U.S. THAAD, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, was an “inevitable, self-defense”. The decision came despite strong opposition from China and Russian Federation, which have voiced concerns that it would put their security interest in danger.
Speaking alongside Power, South Korean ambassador Hahn Choong-hee also called on the worldwide community to send a message that if the North Koreans continue their behavior, “they will face much stronger and insurmountable and significant counter measures from the global community”.
The tests not only threaten Japan’s national security but the region and beyond, he said, stressing that the missiles were launched without any prior notification and could have hit planes or ships.
With each test, she said, the North demonstrates further advancement of its ballistic missile program whose aim according to the country’s leader Kim Jong Un is “to arm the systems with nuclear weapons”. The weapon flew about 310 miles.
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Hahn Choong Hee, South Korea’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said Pyongyang is spending “a considerable amount” of its resources in developing weapons of mass destruction while sacrificing the living conditions of North Koreans.
