UN Security Council condemns DPRK missile launches
The United Nations Security Council on June 23 condemned DPRK's most recent ballistic missile launches as a grave violation of an international ban and called on the 193 UN member states to enforce toughened sanctions on the Asian state.
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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched what appeared to be an intermediate-range missile on June 22 to a high altitude in the direction of Japan before it plunged into the sea about two hours after a similar test failed.
"The members of the Security Council deplore all DPRK ballistic missile activities noting that such activities contribute to the DPRK's development of nuclear weapons delivery systems and increase tension," the 15-member body said.
"The members of the Security Council further regretted that the DPRK is diverting resources to the pursuit of ballistic missiles while DPRK citizens have great unmet needs," it said.
After supervising the missile launches, the DPRK leader Kim Jong Un said his country now has the capability to attack US interests in the Pacific, official media reported.
The UN Security Council met on June 22 evening to discuss the missile launches. The statement issued on June 23 is almost identical to a condemnation by the council on June 1 over several previous ballistic missile tests by Pyongyang.
US Ambassador Samantha Power signaled that the United States would seek "to identify individual, entities who may be responsible for this repeated series of tests" and could be sanctioned by the Security Council.
The DPRK has been under UN sanctions since 2006. In March, the Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions on the country in response to the DPRK's fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range rocket in February.
Power said that since the new sanctions were imposed in March the DPRK had carried out 10 ballistic missile tests.
