UN Security Council to meet on May 31 over failed North Korea satellite launch
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A television in Seoul showing file footage during a news report on May 28 after North Korea's rocket exploded minutes after launch.
PHOTO: AFP
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UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations Security Council will meet publicly on May 31 over North Korea’s failed attempt to launch a new military reconnaissance satellite,
North Korea said the launch ended in failure on May 27 when a newly developed rocket engine exploded in flight.
“The Security Council has a responsibility to protect global peace and security,” said Mr Nate Evans, spokesman for the US Mission to the UN. “The United States urges all Security Council members to take this responsibility seriously and unite in condemning the DPRK’s dangerous and unlawful behaviour.”
“Relevant Security Council resolutions must be fully implemented, and the DPRK must be held accountable for violating them,” he added, referring to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
North Korea has been under UN sanctions for its ballistic missile and nuclear programmes since 2006, and those measures have been strengthened over the years.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said space reconnaissance capabilities are crucial for national self-defence against enemy threats and the country will never give up the fight to own that ability, state media said on May 29.
For the past several years, the UN Security Council has been divided over how to deal with Pyongyang. Russia and China – veto powers along with the US, Britain and France – have said more sanctions will not help and want such measures to be eased.
China and Russia say joint military drills by the US and South Korea provoke Pyongyang, while Washington accuses Beijing and Moscow of emboldening North Korea by shielding it from more sanctions. REUTERS
