UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council on Friday (Sep 15) strongly condemned North Korea’s „highly provocative“ launch of a missile that flew over Japan as US President Donald Trump scheduled talks with leaders of Japan and South Korea to address the crisis. North…
UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council on Friday (Sep 15) strongly condemned North Korea’s „highly provocative“ launch of a missile that flew over Japan as US President Donald Trump scheduled talks with leaders of Japan and South Korea to address the crisis.
North Korea fired the intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan that landed in the Pacific, responding to new UN sanctions with its furthest-ever missile flight.
In a unanimous statement backed by China, the council said the launch was carried out just three weeks after a first missile overflew Japan and less than two weeks after Pyongyang’s sixth and biggest nuclear test.
The council „strongly condemned these launches, condemned further the DPRK for its outrageous actions, and demanded that the DPRK immediately cease all such actions.“
The statement, released after a closed-door meeting, did not threaten further sanctions and stressed that all countries must „fully, comprehensively and immediately“ be implemented.
The launch came days after the council slapped fresh sanctions on the isolated country in response to the nuclear test on Sep 3.
In Washington, the White House announced Trump will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korea’s Moon Jae-in in New York Thursday.
„As Kim Jong-Un’s most recent launch demonstrates, this is one of the world’s most urgent and dangerous security problems,“ US National Security Advisor H. R McMaster said.
North Korea will dominate the diplomatic agenda when world leaders gather at the United Nations next week for the annual high-level General Assembly debate.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he plans to hold talks with all sides on the crisis, including with North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, who will address the General Assembly Friday.
