North Korea’s test-firing this week of a submarine-launched ballistic missile set the region on edge and, as we just heard, provoked a strong and swift global response.
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North Korea’s latest missile test has security analysts admitting that the military-led country is closer than ever to possessing a nuclear missile system capable of attacking another country.
In March, the Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions in response to North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range rocket in February.
The statement referred to Wednesday’s launch as well as other North Korean ballistic missile launches since July 9.
The KPA said in a statement that the soldiers’ actions have seriously threatened the safety of North Korean troops and disrupted their normal monitoring activities.
The council expressed “serious concern” that North Korea carried out the launches after six ballistic missile firings between April and June “in flagrant disregard” of its repeated statements to halt such launches as well as nuclear tests which violate council resolutions.
FLEXING MUSCLES A man watches television news showing file footage of a North Korean missile launch at Incheon airport, west of Seoul.
A test-fire of strategic submarine-launched ballistic missile is seen in this undated photo released by North Korea.
“Such activities contribute to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s development of nuclear weapons delivery systems and increase tension”, it said.
The foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea on Wednesday jointly condemned North Korea’s latest missile launch and urged Pyongyang to stop its provocative acts and to adhere to United Nations resolutions.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has praised the country’s missile programme for having “perfectly acquired” the technology of an SLBM in a short span of time, official state media said on Thursday. But this is no information about whether actual submarine construction has begun, it added.
Therefore, in the statement, the Security Council “reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in northeast Asia at large”, AP reported.
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