UN condemns missile launch, N Korea unfazed
SEOUL: North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un has promised more missile flights over Japan, insisting his nuclear-armed nation’s provocative launch was a mere “curtain-raiser”, in the face of UN condemnation and US warnings of severe repercussions.
The Hwasong-12 intermediaterange missile that Pyongyang unleashed on Tuesday represented a major escalation in the face of tensions over its weapons programmes.
In recent weeks it has threatened to send a salvo of missiles towards the US territory of Guam, while President Donald Trump has warned of raining “fire and fury” on the North.
After the latest launch Trump said that “all options” were on the table, reviving his implied threat of pre-emptive US military action just days after congratulating himself that Kim appeared to be “starting to respect us”.
The UN Security Council -which has already imposed seven sets of sanctions on Pyongyang -said in a unanimous statement the North’s actions “are not just a threat to the region, but to all UN member states”.
North’s key ally China and Russia backed the US-drafted declaration, but it will not immediately lead to new or tightened measures.
The official Korean Central News Agency cited Kim as saying that “more ballistic rocket launching drills with the Pacific as a target in the future” were necessary.
Wednesday’s statement was the first time the North has acknowledged sending a missile over Japan’s main islands. Two of its rockets previously did so, in 1998 and 2009, but on both occasions it claimed they were space launch vehicles.