United States President Barack Obama warned North Korea on Tuesday that it was deepening its global isolation following its recent missile tests.
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Joint action by the three countries vis-a-vis North Korea has been identified as key by experts so, we expect many eyes will be on Thursday’s meeting.
The ballistic missile fired by North Korea on Monday was an upgraded version of a medium-range Rodong missile and flew on the same trajectory as the previous Rodong missiles fired by the regime.
The UN Security Council on Tuesday (Sept 6) issued a strong condemnation of North Korea’s latest missile tests and threatened to take “further significant measures” against Pyongyang.
France’s Francois Delattre called for a “quick and firm reaction” from the 15-member Council, adding: “The three ballistic missile launches are clear and unacceptable new violations of United Nations resolutions”.
Park told reporters Tuesday that North Korea missile program is “fundamentally threatening the security” of the Korean Peninsula and both leaders defended its position as defensive.
United Nations resolutions bar North Korea from any use of ballistic missile technology, but Pyongyang has carried out several launches following its fourth nuclear test in January.
“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”, United States envoy Samantha Power said.
Earlier Tuesday, Obama held talks with South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye on the sidelines of a regional summit in Laos.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim, who attended Monday’s launch, “stressed the need to continue making miraculous achievements in bolstering up the nuclear force one after another in this historic year”.
Japan’s Defense Ministry added that the missiles landed between 190 and 260 kilometres west of Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands.
Despite the heavy sanctions, North Korea says the programs are justified because of the threat posed by the USA and South Korea.
The Rodong is a scaled-up Scud variant with a maximum range of around 1,300 kilometers, bringing most of Japan within range.
South Korea in July announced the deployment of the advanced anti-missile system in the southern part of the country.
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The launches, coming as the G20 meeting continued in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou and just days before North Korea marks the 68th anniversary of the formation of its government, constituted an “armed protest”, an official from South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement.
