UN Security Council slams North Korea missile launch

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 16 (APP): The U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea’s latest missile test Friday, calling it “highly provocative”, less than a week after adopting its harshest sanctions to date against Pyongyang.
“The Security Council stressed that these actions are not just a threat to the region, but to all U.N. member states,” the 15-member council said in a statement.
The statement called on member states to fully implement Security Council resolutions and expressed a “commitment to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution to the situation.”
“The Security Council had brief consultations and it has agreed on a press statement … in which the council condemned the highly provocative launch of a ballistic missile by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Tekeda Alemu, Ethiopia’s U.N. ambassador and current president of the Security Council, told reporters after the emergency meeting, requested by Japan, the U.S. and South Korea.
Friday’s test is the second launch of a missile over the Japanese mainland in a month, and is believed to have flown 3,700 km, falling into the Pacific Ocean some 2,200km off Cape Erimo, Hokkaido.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, Koro Bessho, Japan’s ambassador to the U.N., condemned the launch as “a grave threat” to his country’s security.
“It is very clear that it’s a real threat to the peace and security of the world as a whole, and I’m sure the Security Council will be joining me in condemning what North Korea has been doing,” Bessho said before entering the closed-door meeting.
Beyond the press statement, however, no further sanctions are expected from the council at this time. Diplomats instead spoke of the importance of implementing current measures, including those outlined by a resolution unanimously approved by the council on Monday. The tightened restrictions include a cap on North Korean oil imports and a total ban on textiles.