North Korea fired the missiles into Japan’s exclusive economic zone Monday.
Advertisement
In the statement, the Council members said they further regretted that the DPRK is diverting resources to the pursuit of ballistic missiles while it citizens have great unmet needs.
The council significantly expanded sanctions against North Korea in March, following its nuclear test in January, the country’s fourth.
North Korea has a negative opinion about South Korea anti-missile system and has threatened to attack its neighbor country and the US base in Guam.
“The moment General Kim Rak Gyom shouted “Fire!’ ballistic rockets flew into the sky in succession”, it reported, adding the missiles” performance was considered “perfect”.
Obama, in Laos for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said he would ask the council to reach agreement on further sanctions.
“The Security Council must remain unequivocal and united in the condemnation of these tests and we must take action to enforce the words we put on paper, to enforce our resolutions”, said USA ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, after a Security Council meeting.
“We are going to work diligently together with the most recent United Nations sanctions”, Obama told reporters after meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
After his meeting with Park, Obama said if North Korea committed to denuclearisation then the “opportunities for us to dialogue with them are there”. “I think they are serious about putting together a force capable of delivering nuclear weapons in a conflict with the U.S.”, Lewis said.
In New York, Samantha Power, the USA ambassador to the UN, said the United States, Japan and South Korea called a Security Council meeting after the medium-range missiles were fired nearly simultaneously, traveled about 600 miles and landed within 200 miles of Japan’s coast.
In early August, North Korea also fired Rodong missiles which traveled about 620 miles, the longest ever flight by that kind of missile.
Park told reporters Tuesday that North Korea missile program is “fundamentally threatening the security” of the Korean Peninsula and both leaders defended its position as defensive.
Critics also say the system could be rendered ineffective if North Korea unleashes its sizable arsenal of missiles.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks though binoculars at the site of a ballistic missile launching at an undisclosed location in North Korea.
North Korea has been under United Nations sanctions since 2006.
Monday’s missile launches were the latest in a series by North Korea this year in violation of Security Council resolutions that were supported by China banning ballistic missile-related activities by Pyongyang.
Advertisement
“The council will work on a press statement”, Chinese ambassador Liu Jieyi told reporters after a bit more than an hour of discussions.
