UN condemns N. Korea’s ‘provocative’ missile test

Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS

The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned North Korea’s “highly provocative” ballistic missile test Friday and demanded Pyongyang halt its “outrageous actions” and demonstrate its commitment to denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.

The U.N.’s most powerful body accused North Korea of undermining regional peace and security by launching its latest missile over Japan and said its nuclear and missile tests “have caused grave security concerns around the world” and threaten all 193 U.N. member states.

North Korea’s longest-ever test flight of a ballistic missile early Friday from Sunan, the location of Pyongyang’s international airport, signaled both defiance of North Korea’s rivals and a big technological advance. After hurtling over Japan, it landed in the northern Pacific Ocean.

Since U.S. President Donald Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury” in August, the North has conducted its most powerful nuclear test, threatened to send missiles into the waters around the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam and launched two missiles of increasing range over Japan. July saw the country’s first tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could strike deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.

The missile test came four days after the Security Council imposed tough new sanctions on the North for its Sept. 3 missile test including a ban on textile exports and natural gas imports – and caps on its import of oil and petroleum products. The U.S. said the latest sanctions, combined with previous measures, would ban more than 90 percent of North Korea’s exports reported in 2016, its main source of hard currency used to finance its nuclear and missile programs.

Leader Kim Jong Un vowed today to complete his nuclear weapons program in the face of strengthening sanctions.

The North also confirmed the missile as an intermediate range Hwasong-12.