The UN Security Council on Friday condemned the next missile launches by North Korea.
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“The members of the Security Council deplore all Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ballistic missile activities”, the statement said, referring to North Korea by its formal name.
“Such activities contribute to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s development of nuclear weapons delivery systems and increase tension”, it said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is pictured during a test-fire of strategic submarine-launched ballistic missile in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang, Aug. 25, 2016.
The council held a closed-door meeting on Friday to second the statement, which dealt with Tuesday’s SLBM – launch of a ballistic missile from a North Korean submarine – which later fell into the Sea of Japan.
The council met behind closed doors on Wednesday after North Korea launched a missile from a submarine towards Japan, the latest provocation from Pyongyang.
China is Pyongyang’s main ally.
South Korean officials say a ballistic missile fired from a North Korean submarine on Wednesday was tracked flying about 500 kilometers (310 miles), the longest distance achieved by the North for such a weapon.
The council was unable to agree after Beijing pressed for language in a statement opposing the THAAD missile defence system that the United States plans to deploy in South Korea.
In March, the UNSC introduced tough sanctions against Pyongyang for its missile tests, including restricting exports of certain North Korean raw materials, revenue from which was used to fund its nuclear programme.
The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said the submarine-launched missile test was the “greatest success”, putting the USA mainland and the Pacific “within the striking range”.
Jon spoke just before the Security Council concluded the discussions with a statement. 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”.
“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 told AP.
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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.
