UN Security Council speaks on North Korea missile launch

The United States on Tuesday (September 6) called for action to enforce United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding North Korea a day after the latest of Pyongyang’s ballistic missile tests.

“The Security Council must remain unequivocal and united in the condemnation of these tests and we must take action to enforce the words we put on paper, to enforce our resolutions,” said U.S. ambassador to the UN Samantha Power.

North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Monday, the South Korean and U.S. militaries said, as the leaders of the Group of 20 major economies held a summit in China, the North‘s main diplomatic ally.

The missiles likely landed in the sea 200 to 250 km (120-160 miles) west of Hokkaido, Japan’snorthern-most main island, sources at Japan’s defense ministry said Monday.

The missile launch is “of great concern to the national security of Japan,” said Koro Bessho, Japan’s U.N. ambassador, who also called for a united front in condemnation of Pyongyang’s action.

Hahn Choong Hee, South Korea‘s deputy permanent representative to the UN, said Pyongyang is spending “a considerable amount” of its resources in developing weapons of mass destruction while sacrificing the living conditions of North Koreans.

The three diplomats spoke simultaneously in a display of solidarity.

Monday’s missile launches were the latest in a series by North Korea this year in violation of Security Council resolutions that were supported by China and that ban all ballistic missile-related activities by Pyongyang.

North Korea rejects the ban as infringing its sovereign right to pursue a space program and self defense.

North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006. The 15-member Security Council toughened the sanctions in March in response to North Korea‘s fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range rocket in February.