UN SLAMS NORTH KOREA’S MISSILE TESTS

The UN Security Council on Friday slammed North Korea for defying UN resolutions with a series of test-firings of submarine-launched and other ballistic missiles beginning in July.

The 15-member council in a statement “strongly condemned” the tests, although a US thinktank said any deployment of the technology is years away.

The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said late Friday on its closely-watched website, 38 North, that the success of North Korea’s SLBM test this week suggests the program may be progressing faster than originally expected.

“However, this does not mean it will be ready next week, next month, or even next year”, it said. “Rather, the pace and method of the North’s SLBM testing would suggest possible deployment in an initial operational capability by the second half of 2018 at the earliest.”

The latest test was of a submarinelaunched ballistic missile carried out toward Japan on Wednesday.

The council said these tests were all “in grave violation” of UN resolutions banning the use of ballistic missile technology. The other tests took place on Aug 2, with a projectile falling inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone for the first time, as well as July 9 and Juky 18.

Despite the successful test, the country faces significant technological challenges, including building a new class of submarine to carry the missile.

Last month, 38 North reported the North was building up infrastructure to construct new submarines at the Sinpo South Shipyard: “A new submarine could probably be built within a two to three-year timeframe, but the likelihood of building new models without further testing and refinement of the experimental Gorae-class seems low.”

The submarine-launched test-firing is the third of its kind this year and marks an escalation in the North’s provocations, showing its apparent progress in developing weapons technology.

North Korea’s defiant pursuit of weapons development continues despite the United Nations imposing its toughest-ever sanctions on Pyongyang in March.

The sanctions were in response to North Korea’s fourth nuclear test, in January, and the launch of a rocket using banned ballistic missile technology the following month.

There have been deep divisions on the council recently with China, as the North’s closest ally, is increasingly resistant to issuing statements that condemn the actions.

A statement released on Friday says the council will closely monitor the situation in North Korea and “take further significant measures in line with the council’s previously expressed determination”.