North Korea used a long-range rocket to launch a satellite into space on Sunday, sparking strong condemnation from the United Nations Security Council, which called the rocket launch a violation of multiple U.N. resolutions and moved quickly to impose new sanctions, reported AFP.
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Venezuela’s ambassador said the Security Council would to take “significant measures” in response to Pyongyang’s violations of United Nations resolutions.
Permanent Security Council members Britain, France and Russian Federation all expressed anger and concern, while North Korea’s main diplomatic protector China voiced “regret”.
The UN Security Council has also strongly condemned the launch using ballistic missile technology by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Saturday, said a press statement of the council.
Ban said North Korea must stop “provocative actions” and reaffirmed what he called “a commitment to working with all sides in reducing tensions and achieving the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”.
North Korea claims to have successfully put four satellites into orbit.
The U.S. and China have been deliberating for a month over a new resolution in response to North Korea’s claim that it detonated a hydrogen bomb in early January.
U.S. Congressman Ed Royce, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said, “This latest aggression underscores the importance of enacting my legislation to strengthen targeted sanctions against this brutal regime”. “Basically, the U.S. military is stationed in South Korea, and there is a Korea-U.S. alliance”.
“North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons programs represent serious threats to our interests, including the security of some of our closest allies, and undermine peace and security in the broader region”, the official twitter statement from the Prime Minister’s Office as quoted by CNN.
The UN Security Council is set to have an emergency meeting on Sunday about the rocket launch.
According to South Korea’s Defense Ministry, the patrol boat crossed the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea to the west of the Korean peninsula at 6:55 a.m. local time (21:55 UTC/GMT).
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Its neighbors view the launch as a front for a ballistic test. South Korea, Japan, and the U.S., had in a joint request, called on the UNSC to convene the session as soon as Sunday. It last launched a long-range rocket in December 2012, sending into orbit an object it described as a communications satellite.
