N. KOREA MISSILE LAUNCH BLASTED

Security Council vows significant new U.N. sanctions

The United Nations Security Council on Sunday unanimously condemned North Korea’s launch of a long-range missile as a violation of U.N. resolutions banning ballistic missile tests and promised “significant” new sanctions.

The Security Council — whose 15 members include the United States, China and Russia — said even though North Korea characterized the rocket test as a satellite launch, it clearly was an effort to develop a ballistic missile and violated four U.N. resolutions dating to 2006.

Sunday’s launch follows North Korea’s widely disputed claim in January to have tested a hydrogen bomb. North Korean rocket and nuclear tests are considered moves toward the North’s ultimate goal of a missile that could hit the U.S. mainland.

Secretary of State John Kerry responded by calling the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan on Sunday to reaffirm U.S. commitment to the security and defense of both nations and their allies from threats posed by North Korea.

Seoul revealed new discussions with Washington over the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system on the peninsula in reaction to the North Korea test launch, which drew immediate objections from China and Russia.

Yoo Jeh Seung, head of defense planning for South Korean Defense Ministry, said Seoul and Washington will discuss deploying the THAAD missile system, an acronoym for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense.

China, which maintains close ties with North Korea, said deploying an anti-missile system in South Korea would only escalate tensions, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said.

South Korean President Park Geun Hye called the launch an “intolerable provocation.”

North Korean state television said in a special broadcast Sunday that it had placed an observation satellite into orbit.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service believes the payload of the satellite launched into orbit is about twice that of the 220-pound satellite that North Korea launched into orbit in 2012, according to AP. The estimated range of the missile is 3,400 miles. The distance from North Korea to the West Coast of the United States is 5,800 miles.