North Korea launched a long-range rocket from its northwest Dongchang-ri launch site Sunday in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.
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North Korea has launched a long-range rocket that the United Nations is calling a test of technology meant to reach the U.S.
Tokyo and Washington called the consultations over the launch of a “so-called “satellite” by North Korea in violation of relevant Security Council resolutions”, in a letter to the Venezuela mission, which now holds the council presidency.
But critics are skeptical over whether any new sanctions can stop North Korea from abandoning its nuclear and rocket programs because China, North’s last major ally and biggest aid benefactor and a veto-wielding power in the U.N. Security Council, is unwilling to cooperate on any harsh punishment on the North.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called the North Korean launch and the recent nuclear test violations of United Nations agreements.
North Korea put a satellite in orbit with its first successful rocket launch in December 2012.
The satellite, Kwangmyongsong-4, is orbiting the earth every 94 minutes and the North would continue to launch satellites in future, an announcer said on the North’s state television broadcast.
The United States and its allies condemned North Korea’s plan because they consider its satellite program to be a sort of cover for developing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear bomb.
The North American Aerospace Defence Command said it had tracked the missile and determined it was not a risk to the US.
There has been no damage reported from civil aircrafts and shipping, South Korea’s transport ministry was quoted as saying.
The US, Japan, Britain, France and South Korea have requested an emergency meeting of the Security Council to discuss the North’s actions and whether to push for more tough sanctions.
The United States was tracking the rocket launch and said it did not believe that it posed a threat to the United States or its allies, defence officials said.
The statement said the long-range missile launch clearly violates UN Security Council resolutions, describing it as an extreme provocative act for the single objective of maintaining its regime while dismissing livelihoods of North Korean people and the global community’s wish for peace.
The earth observation satellite blasted off at 9:00 a.m. local time (0030 GMT) from the Sohae Space Center in Cholsan County, North Phyongan Province, and later entered the target orbit, said the KCTV.
In some of its more bellicose statements, North Korea has laid claim to already possessing the ability to strike the U.S. mainland.
North Korea has said that its fourth nuclear test was of a hydrogen bomb.
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“In conducting this provocation, North Korea has clearly demonstrated that it is intent on prioritising the development of its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes over improving the well-being of its own people”.
