UN Security Council condemns North Korea missile launching

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The UN Security Council yesterday denounced North Korea’s weekend missile launch, urging members to “redouble efforts” to enforce sanctions against the reclusive state.

Pyongyang’s ballistic missile firing on Sunday was its first direct challenge to the international community since US President Donald Trump took office on Jan 20.

At a news conference yesterday, Trump said: “Obviously North Korea is a big, big problem and we will deal with that very strongly.”

US, Japanese and South Korean military officials held a teleconference yesterday in which they condemned the launch as “a clear violation” of multiple Security Council resolutions. The United States “reaffirmed its ironclad security commitments” to South Korea and Japan, the Pentagon said.

The Security Council did not specify what steps might be taken beyond the UN-sponsored sanctions regime imposed on North Korea since 2006 over its nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

“The members of the Security Council deplore all the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ballistic missile activities, including these launches,” the council said in a statement that also referred to North Korea’s missile launch on Oct 19.

The statement “called upon all member states to redouble their efforts to implement fully the measures imposed on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea by the Security Council.”

Japan, which called for the emergency meeting of the Security Council along with the United States and South Korea, said it was pleased with the council’s resolve in discussing North Korea’s latest missile firing.

“There was unanimity in condemning the launch and an expression of concern about the situation,” said Koro Bessho, the Japanese ambassador to the world body. “Obviously we have to implement the very robust strong resolution that we already have. That is a starting point.”