YONHAP News:
Members of the U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launches as the group held an emergency meeting Wednesday but stopped short of adopting a formal statement, the U.S., Japan and South Korean ambassadors said.
“What we heard was … encouraging, strong condemnations across the board from individual member states. So we have every reason to believe that the council will be able to come together in a swift and united way to condemn this, again, just the latest launches,” U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told reporters.
Power did not elaborate, but permanent council members China and Russia could have expressed reservations about adopting a statement. There has been concern that Beijing and Moscow could refuse to render full cooperation over North Korea in anger over a decision by the United States and South Korea to deploy the THAAD missile defense system.
North Korea fired two Rodong intermediate-range ballistic missiles early Wednesday. One of them exploded right after launch, but the other flew some 1,000 kilometers and fell in waters off Japan in the country’s exclusive economic zone.
Such launches represent a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the North from any activity using ballistic missile technology over concern that it can be used to develop long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
