The Security Council said it will take “significant measures” against Pyongyang as North Korea violates UN resolutions. Japan’s ambassador said the launch posed a “direct threat” to the island nation and the region.
The UN Security Council on Sunday condemned the launch of a rocket by North Korea, which Pyongyang hailed as a “complete success.”
South Korea says it plans to hold formal talks with Washington on the deployment of a US missile system on the Korean peninsula. The announcement comes after North Korea launched a long-range rocket, sparking outrage.
“The members of the Security Council strongly condemn this launch,” read a statement presented by Venezuela’s UN Ambassador Rafael Ramirez, who sits as the council’s president for February.
Ramirez added that Sunday’s launch strengthened the Security Council’s determination to “take further significant measures” against North Korea after it violated four of the Council’s resolutions.
“In line with this commitment and the gravity of this most recent violation, the members of the Security Council will adopt expeditiously a new Security Council resolution with such measures in response to these dangerous and serious violations,” Ramirez added.
The statement, which was approved by all 15 Council members at an emergency meeting, said that the launch underscored Pyongyang’s advances in ballistic missile technology, “even if characterized as a satellite launch or space launch vehicle.”
‘Direct threat’
Motohide Yoshikawa, Japan’s ambassador to the UN, said “business as usual will no longer apply” in reference to the likelihood of stronger sanctions as she said the launch posed a “direct threat to Japan.”
“There was unity in the Security Council in [expressing] outrage over the missile launch which took place four weeks after the nuclear test,” said Yoshikawa, taking note of Pyongyang’s claim that it tested a thermonuclear weapon.
Samantha Power, the United States’ ambassador to the UN, told reporters that Washington would “ensure that the Security Council imposes serious consequences” on North Korea.
“The DPRK’s latest transgressions require our response to be even firmer,” Power said, referring to North Korea by the acronym of its official name: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The UN Security Council’s statement comes as South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Sunday it would seriously consider the installation of an advanced missile system aimed at deterring Pyongyang’s threat.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Sunday the growing threat of North Korea’s weapons capabilities had forced Seoul to move ahead with discussions on the possibility of installing an advanced missile system.
“The Korea-US alliance had no choice but to take such a defense action because North Korea staged a strategic provocation and is refusing to have a genuine dialogue on de-nuclearization,” ministry official Yoo Jeh Seung said.
US officials have previously said the sophisticated system, known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), was needed in South Korea. China and Russia oppose setting up such a system, arguing that such a move could trigger an arms race in the region. But Yoo stressed that THAAD, if deployed to the Korean Peninsula, would “be only operated against North Korea.”
Outrage over rocket launch
Earlier on Sunday, North Korea launched a rocket carrying what it said was an observation satellite into orbit. The move sparked global condemnation from the US and its allies in the region, who have denounced the launch as a cover to test a ballistic missile. UN Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea from test-firing ballistic rockets.
The Council is expected to hold an emergency meeting later in the day to discuss the launch.
A spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Pyongyang’s actions “deeply deplorable.” US Secretary of State John Kerry said the launch was a destabilizing and unacceptable challenge to peace, while France called for a “rapid and tough response from the international community.”
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier accused North Korea of “putting regional security on the line” with its “irresponsible provocation.”
Pyongyang’s main ally, China, expressed “regret” that the North had disregarded opposition from the international community and “obstinately insisted in carrying out a launch by using ballistic missile technologies.”
Those statements were echoed by Russia’s Foreign Ministry, which warned such actions could not but provoke a “decisive protest,” leading to “a serious aggravation of the situation on the Korean peninsula.”
Launch is a ‘complete success’
North Korea launched its rocket at around 9:30 a.m. local time in a southward trajectory. US authorities confirmed the launch, but said they did not believe it posed a threat to the US or its allies.
Pyongyang declared the event a “complete success,” saying its satellite Kwangmyongsong-4 was now making a polar orbit of the earth every 94 minutes. While North Korea insists its space program is purely peaceful, the US and South Korea say the reclusive communist state aims to develop a nuclear warhead to mount on a missile. Many experts say it will be some time before Pyongyang manages to do so.
-DW.COM
