The North fired two short-range missiles last week into the sea off its east coast and its leader Kim Jong Un ordered more nuclear weapons test and missile tests to improve attack capability.
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The sanctions were a response to the launch of another ballistic missile by North Korea on February 7,2016 as well as a nuclear test on January 6, 2016 the White House said.
North Korea fired two ballistic missiles off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, one of which flew 500 miles before falling into the sea, and the other one was detected at an 11 miles altitude by a radar before it disappeared.
“We once again urged the DPRK (North Korea) to comply with its worldwide obligations, including relevant Security Council resolutions and halt these inflammatory and escalatory actions”, said Dujarric.
South Korea also condemned North Korea’s move, calling it a direct challenge to the UN Security Council and the worldwide community, while Japan lodged a protest through its embassy in Beijing.
South Korea and China agreed that, “North Korea must not take further actions that violate United Nations resolutions”.
Existing UN sanctions ban North Korea from the use of any ballistic missile test, although short-range launches tend to go unpunished.
North Korea could carry out another nuclear test at any time, a USA think tank has suggested, after analysing satellite imagery from Pyongyang’s main testing site.
John Kerry, secretary of state of the US Department of State, released a statement concerning these launches saying that the US is “closely monitoring” the situation.
Analyst Lee Choon Geun at South Korea’s state-funded Science and Technology Policy Institute said the North can probably place nuclear warheads on its shorter-range Scuds and medium-range Rodong missiles, which would put South Korea and Japan under its striking range.
While China has signed up for tough new United Nations sanctions against North Korea, it has said repeatedly sanctions are not the answer and that only a resumption of talks can resolve the dispute over North Korea’s weapons program.
“The missile dropped into waters within the Japanese Air Defense Identification Zone”, the JCS said.
If confirmed, it would be North Korea’s first firing of the Rodong missile in about two years.
Asked whether China was anxious the sanctions could affect “normal” business links between Chinese banks and North Korea, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said this was something China was “paying attention to”.
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In an interview with the Politico, Carter said the U.S.is analyzing the results of Friday’s launches.
