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UN condemns DPRK latest missile launch as "irresponsible act"

Xinhua, June 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

The United Nations on Wednesday condemned Pyongyang's launch of two suspected missiles as an "irresponsible act" and an "unacceptable violation" of a ban imposed by relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

The reported launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is "in defiance of the unanimous will of the international community, (and) is a brazen and irresponsible act," Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, told reporters here.

"The continued pursuit by the DPRK of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles will only undermine its security and fail to improve the lives of its citizens," Haq said.

Haq made the remarks at a daily news briefing here ahead of a closed meeting of the UN Security Council on the DPRK's latest missile launch, which was held at the request of the United States and Japan.

"We want a quick and firm reaction of the Security Council on this," said Francois Delattre, the French UN ambassador who holds the rotating council presidency for this month.

"The ballistic launches (by Pyongyang) are a clear and unacceptable violation of the Security Council resolutions," Delattre told reporters here before the start of the council meeting. "The North Korean ballistic programme is a serious threat to regional and international peace and security."

The DPRK on Thursday announced that it has successfully test-launched a surface-to-surface medium- and long-range strategic ballistic missile Hwasong-10, according to state media KCNA.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted the Joint Chiefs of Staff as saying that the DPRK launched a second missile, which was believed to be a Musudan, at about 8:05 a.m. Seoul time (2305 GMT Tuesday) from Wonsan on the east coast, two hours after the DPRK test-fired a ballistic missile, which Seoul said was presumably a failure.

The latest intermediate-range missile launch was the sixth test-firing of its kind by Pyongyang after the five earlier launches were all believed to have failed.

The South Korean military said it is not clear whether Pyongyang's second launch on Wednesday was a success or not. It is believed that a ballistic missile is required to fly at least 300 km to be considered successful in test-firing. The second missile launched on Wednesday flew about 400 km.

On June 1, the Security Council "strongly condemned" the most recent failed ballistic missile launches by the DPRK on May 31 and April 27-28.

"These repeated attempted launches are in grave violation of the DPRK's international obligations under United Nations Security Council resolutions," the 15-nation UN council said in a statement.

The Security Council has adopted five resolutions -- resolutions 1718 (2006), 1874 (2009), 2087 (2013), 2094 (2013) and 2270 (2016) -- to curb the DPRK's nuclear and missile programs.

The latest one adopted in March imposes the most severe sanctions yet on the country, including an export ban and asset freeze. Enditem