North Korea is barred under United Nations resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology, but has carried out several launches following its fourth nuclear test in January.
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The 15-member council issued the toughly-worded condemnation in a unanimous statement drafted by the United States and backed by China, Pyongyang’s main ally.
The United Nations Security Council has strongly condemned North Korea’s launch of ballistic missile from a submarine on August.
Adding to the alarm of North Korea’s technology advance in submarine-launched ballistic missile, a USA -based North Korea expert says the North could upgrade an SLBM so it could be deployed on land.
The North Korean missile launched Wednesday flew about 500 kilometers toward Japan, a distance markedly further than similar launches in the past. The UN called the test-firing a “grave violation” of resolutions that prohibit the Communist country from testing such ballistic missiles.
“As we’ve said, North Korea continuously threatens provocations through official media, and unofficially there have been signs of threats, and the warning is a follow-up step to that”, Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee said at a news briefing.
Jon spoke just before the Security Council concluded the discussions with a statement.
“The best way for the U.S.to escape a deadly strike from us is by refraining from insulting our dignity and threatening our security, by exercising prudence and self-control”, Jon said. He said it showed North Korea’s “great power and inexhaustible strength in the face of the trials of history and the challenges of our enemies”. Its development of reliable submarine-launched missiles would add a weapon that is harder to detect before launch.
“North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats are no longer an uncertainty, but a serious threat to our national security”.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last Thursday described the latest SLBM test as the “greatest success” and said it put the United States mainland and the Pacific within striking range.
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The council statement was adopted after several rounds of negotiations with China, which has insisted over recent weeks on the need to avoid an escalation of tension on the Korean Peninsula.
