The Security Council statement condemned the August 23launch as well as the North’s ballistic missile launches onAugust 2 and July 18 and the firing of a submarine-launchedballistic missile on July 9.
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China and Russian Federation will likely establish a joint missile warning system to neutralize what they see as national security threats stemming from the radar coverage of the United States’ Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system to be deployed to South Korea in 2017.
“The members of the Security Council deplore all Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ballistic missile activities”, the statement read.
Last month, 38 North reported the North was building up infrastructure to construct new submarines at the Sinpo South Shipyard. It flew 500 kilometers (around 300 miles) towards Japan, far exceeding the range of the North’s previous sub-launched missiles. Having that capability could significantly strengthen North Korea’s ability to conduct strikes on US positions in South Korea, and possibly on USA bases in Japan as well.
The 15-member council on August 26 issued a toughly worded condemnation in a unanimous statement drafted by the United States and backed by China, Pyongyang’s main ally.
North Korean Foreign Ministry official Jon Min Dok told Associated Press Television News in an interview that the US -led discussions at the U.N. were a “terrible provocation” and that the country is developing nuclear weapons because of “outrageous nuclear intimidation” by the United States.
She said the missile launch marked the latest in an “accelerating campaign” of missile tests that violate multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.
“Now that the United States posed threats to the dignity and the right to existence of the DPRK (North Korea) defying its serious warning, it will continue to take a series of eventful action steps as a full-fledged military power”, the spokesman said.
“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.
North Korean strategists believe that developing nuclear weapons and a reliable arsenal of long-range missiles is necessary and, in the end, a more cost-effective means of keeping Washington at bay and the ruling regime secure than maintaining a large conventional army.
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THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, is the advanced USA anti-missile system that is soon to be deployed in South Korea to defend against North Korean missile threats.
