YonHapNews:
The U.N. Security Council has been discussing how to respond to North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Tuesday, as China and Russia remained silent on the issue.
The ballistic missile was launched from a submerged submarine off North Korea’s east coast on Saturday, but it exploded in midair, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The test came a day after South Korea and the U.S. announced plans to place an advanced anti-missile defense system on South Korean soil to counter the North’s growing missile and nuclear threats.
“Talks are underway among the member nations of the U.N. Security Council,” ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said in a regular press briefing. “Our government hopes the Security Council will take measures to respond to the North’s failed SLBM (submarine-launched ballistic missile) test.”
There is uncertainty over how much China and Russia — two of the council’s five permanent veto-wielding members — will cooperate in condemning the North, as both have openly expressed their anger at Seoul and Washington over the deployment of THAAD, or the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system.
