Archival photo of North Korea’s satellite launch in 2012. “It represents a threat to regional stability, global peace and security, and a violation of the UN Security Council’s resolutions prohibiting North Korea to undertake any tests of ballistic technologies”.
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The UN Security Council is expected to hold emergency consultations today to address this issue.
“The United States … will take all necessary steps to defend ourselves and our allies in the region and respond to North Korean provocations”.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry responded to news of the launch by reaffirming Washington’s defense commitment to Japan and South Korea.
State-run television KRT showed video of thousands of Pyongyang citizens and soldiers along with high-ranking government officials attending the rally in the capital on Monday, the day after it launched a long-range rocket carrying what North Korea has called a satellite.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday had telephone calls with U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe respectively to discuss tougher new sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on its long-range rocket launch.
After the test, the USA and South Korea announced they had begun formal discussions about the possibility of deploying an advanced missile defence system to which China has objected, arguing it could undermine its strategic deterrent.
Beijing has in the past proved reluctant to support biting multilateral sanctions against North Korea, for fear of destabilizing a regime on China’s border.
He said, however, that he would leave characterizing how successful that was to the North Koreans.
Despite opposition from the global community, North Korea went ahead and launched its Earth observation satellite on Sunday, the first in three years.
The United Nations Security Council condemned the recent rocket launch of North Korea.
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Still, the North has repeatedly pledged to boost its nuclear capability, viewing its nuclear program as a powerful deterrent against what it claims is Washington’s hostile policy toward it.
