At the request of the United States and Japan, the council met yesterday behind closed doors to discuss Pyongyang’s latest missile launch, which for the first time landed in Japanese-controlled waters.
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The two ballistic missile launches on Wednesday were the third since the United States and South Korea announced plans on July 8 to deploy an advanced missile defense system in South Korea by the end of next year – a move Pyongyang has denounced.
“It’s a serious threat against our country’s security”, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.
“This provocation only serves to increase the global community’s resolve to counter (North Korea’s) prohibited activities”, said Pentagon spokesman Gary Ross.
The missiles, No Dong, or Rodong, intermediate range ballistic missiles, were fired simultaneously from near the country’s western city of Hwangju, the U.S. Strategic Command said in a statement. A medium-range ballistic missile fired Wednesday by North Korea.
Those were believed to be short-range, Scud or Rodong-type missiles and flew 300 to 380 miles (500 to 600 kilometers), said Jeon Ha-gyu, spokesman for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.
It’s likely that North Korea uses dummy warheads when it test-launches missiles.
The members have reportedly condemned North Korea for violating the UN Security Council resolution that bans the regime from launching ballistic missiles.
Those tensions seem likely to remain high for the time being, as the USA prepares for a large-scale series of annual joint exercises with South Korea in August – drills that North Korea regards as a simulation of an invasion.
The request was endorsed by council members Britain, France, Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal, Spain, Ukraine and Uruguay, while China, North Korea’s only ally, and Russian Federation did not back the request. South Korean defense officials say North Korea does not have the technical ability to do this yet.
Missile tests have become more frequent under Kim Jong Un’s reign.
Chinese and South Korean media outlets have characterized Tomomi Inada, the newly appointed Japanese Defense Minister, as a right wing politician who has denied Japan’s past wartime atrocities, including the sexual enslavement of thousands of women in Asia to work as prostitutes in military brothels.
That came just days after Washington and Seoul announced an agreement to deploy the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system in South Korea by the end of next year – a move condemned by Pyongyang and also vehemently opposed by China and Russian Federation.
Analysts see the latest missile test as a show of force against USA plans to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (Thaad) battery on South Korean soil.
South Korean officials fear the North is now preparing to conduct a fifth test of a nuclear weapon.
A United States military statement added that the second missile failed due to an immediate explosion after its launch.
The decision to deploy the THAAD in the south of the Korean Peninsula was made at the beginning of July.
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THAAD has some utility for intercepting North Korean missiles, but it also is useful for intercepting missiles from China aimed at Japan and USA bases in Korea.
