South Koreans watch a TV news program with file footage of North Korea’s rocket-launch plans, at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, February 3, 2016.
Advertisement
The U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea’s launch of a long-range rocket that world leaders called a banned test of ballistic missile technology and another “intolerable provocation”.
South Korea had been reluctant to publicly discuss the possibility due to worries about upsetting China, its biggest trading partner.
The satellite launched on Sunday morning has been dubbed by North Korea as an “Earth Observation Satellite”, but critics say that the rocket launch is a cloak to test long-range missile technology.
Cook said an eventual THAAD deployment would be operated by United States forces in South Korea.
North Korea’s missile test … is a clear and direct threat to USA national security interests and those of our allies and partners.
The North Korean satellite launched this weekend is tumbling in orbit, rendering it useless, just like another one of the country’s satellites launched in December, 2012.
“From the perspective of what would be the most effective method, the government is preparing to decide the specifics of a measure”, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga said.
Kerry said the United States will work with the UN Security Council on “significant measures” to hold Pyongyang accountable for violating UN resolutions. The THAAD system fires anti-ballistic missiles created to hit enemy missiles mid-air.
The DPRK reportedly test-fired its submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) three times in 2015.
What the US, South Korea and other countries fear is that the satellite is actually a nuclear missile. “Speed is the priority”, said the official, who asked not to be named ahead of a formal decision.
It vowed to “adopt expeditiously a new Security Council resolution” even though it has not yet adopted one condemning the test of a nuclear weapon last month.
“We’re beginning the consultations now in the coming days with the South Koreans and we expect that this will move in an expeditious fashion”, he said.
THAAD is a system built by Lockheed Martin Corp that can be transported by air, sea or land.
Five THAAD batteries are now operational, according to the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, and two more were ordered in 2014. “This is totally outrageous and unacceptable”, said South Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Oh Joon.
Advertisement
Russia’s goal is to see six-party talks aimed at denuclearization resume, he said, but in the current atmosphere that’s unlikely because the North Koreans “have been very unreasonable” and are challenging the entire global community.
