U.N. condemns DPRK missile launch, Pyongyang says more to come

The United Nations condemned the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s “outrageous” firing of a ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday, demanding Pyongyang halt its weapons program but holding back on any threat of new sanctions on the isolated regime.

DPRK said the launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) was to counter U.S. and South Korean military drills and was a first step in military action in the Pacific to “contain” the U.S. territory of Guam.

The DPRK leader Kim Jong Un ordered the launch to be conducted for the first time from its capital, Pyongyang, and said more exercises with the Pacific as the target were needed, the DPRK KCNA news agency said on Wednesday.

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un

“The current ballistic rocket launching drill like a real war is the first step of the military operation of the KPA in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying. The Korean People’s Army or KPA is the North’s military.

Earlier this month, DPRK threatened to fire four missiles into the sea near Guam, home to a major U.S. military presence, after President Donald Trump said DPRK would face “fire and fury” if it threatened the United States.

In a statement the 15-member Security Council said it was of “vital importance” that DPRK take immediate, concrete actions to reduce tensions and called on all states to implement U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang.

However, the U.S.-drafted statement, which was agreed by consensus, does not threaten new sanctions on DPRK.

“I certainly hope that we’ll be able to have a strong resolution following up this ... statement,” Japan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Koro Bessho told reporters after the meeting.

All options on the table

Tuesday’s test was of the same Hwasong-12 missile Kim had threatened to use on Guam, but the test flight took it in another direction, over northern Japan’s Hokkaido and into the sea.

Trump, who has vowed not to let DPRK develop nuclear missiles that can hit the mainland United States, said the world had received DPRK’s latest message “loud and clear”.

“Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean(DPRK) regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table,” Trump said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Trump administration plans to name a former White House official, Victor Cha, as the next U.S. ambassador to South Korea, according to an administration official.

Cha served as deputy head of the U.S. delegation in multilateral talks with DPRK over its nuclear program during the administration of President George W. Bush.

The DPRK’s latest test launch came as U.S. and South Korean forces conducted annual military exercises on the Korean peninsula, angering Pyongyang which sees the war games as a preparation for invasion.

DPRK has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests under Kim in defiance of U.N. sanctions, but firing a projectile over mainland Japan was a rare and provocative move.

Lacking detail

Reports of the launch by DPRK media were lacking the usual boasts of technical advances.

The 2,700 km (1,680 miles) the missile flew before splashing down was much shorter and at a lower trajectory than that of an earlier launch of the same missile type.

“It is not clear what new North Korea(DPRK) would have learned from this launch that is relevant to a long-range missile,” missile expert David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists said.

The shorter range points to an intended early cutting of the engine thrust or a possible mechanical problem, as the trajectory taken would not have been useful in simulating re-entry or heating of the missile, Wright wrote in a blog post.

Kim Dong-yup, professor at the Institute for Far East Studies of Kyungnam University in Seoul said firing the missile from a densely populated area near Pyongyang and over Japan suggested DPRK was confident in the missile’s stability.

“I do not think North Korea(DPRK) factored in much military meaning behind yesterday’s missile launch, rather yesterday’s launch was all about North Korea(DPRK) being stubborn,” he said.

“At the same time, North Korea(DPRK) is hinting that there is room for negotiation if the U.S. and South Korea ends the joint military exercises.”

(REUTERS)