2nd LD Writethru: UN Security Council to convene emergency session on DPRK's satellite launch

The UN Security Council is to convene a closed-door emergency session here on Sunday morning to discuss the satellite launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) against relevant UN resolutions, diplomatic sources told Xinhua Saturday night.

The meeting of the 15-nation UN body was requested by the United States, South Korea and Japan, reports said.

The DPRK has confirmed that it successfully launched a Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite, an earth observation satellite, on Sunday morning. There was widespread fear that the launch was a disguised test of ballistic missile technology.

On Tuesday, the DPRK informed three UN entities of its intention to launch an earth-observation satellite between Feb. 8 and 25, and later advanced the date to Feb. 7 and 14.

Sunday's launch came as the UN Security Council is discussing a resolution on the DPRK's Jan. 6 nuclear test. On Jan. 6, the DPRK tested what it claimed to be its first hydrogen bomb, the fourth nuclear detonation following three other ones in 2006, 2009 and 2013, escalating the tension on the Korean Peninsula to a new high.

PREVIOUS UN RESOLUTIONS

On July 15, 2006, the Security Council unanimously approved Resolution 1695 in response to the DPRK's firing of seven missiles into waters between Korean Peninsula and Japan, including the long-range Taepodong-2 on July 5 that year.

The resolution urges the DPRK to honor its commitments on missile launching.

On Oct. 14, 2006, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1718 in the wake of the DPRK's first underground nuclear test conducted on Oct. 9, 2006 in North Hamgyong-do in the northeast DPRK.

The resolution condemns the test as a "clear threat" to international peace and prohibits Pyongyang from conducting future nuclear tests or launching a ballistic missile.

Sanctions imposed included an embargo against military and technological materials and luxury goods, and a ban on the transfer of funds related to missiles, nuclear arms, and other weapons of mass destruction.

On June 12, 2009, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1874 in response to the DPRK's second nuclear test conducted on May. 25, 2009, voicing "the strongest condemnation" against the DPRK authorities and strengthening sanctions stipulated in Resolution 1718.

The resolution expanded the arms embargo by banning all imports and exports of weapons, excluding small arms.

On Jan. 22, 2013, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2087 after the DPRK successfully launched and orbited the second version of the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite on Dec. 12, 2012.

The resolution requires the DPRK to comply with all relevant resolutions approved by the Security Council and not to use ballistic missile technology for any launch.

It also reiterates the necessity to seek a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution to the issues concerned and calls for renewing the six-party talks to push for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

On March 7, 2013, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2094 in response to the DPRK's third nuclear test on Feb. 12, 2013.

The resolution demands that the DPRK refrain from any further nuclear tests, give up any nuclear arms program and return to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

The resolution obliges UN member states to inspect the DPRK's maritime and air cargo "within or transiting through their territory" if it is believed to contain illicit items. Endi