UN Security Council condemns DPRK missile launch

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Following the DPRK's firing of a ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council condemned the act as an "outrageous" threat and demanded that Pyongyang should abandon all nuclear weapons and programs, and not launch any more missiles.

In a statement, the 15-member Security Council said it was of "vital importance" that the DPRK takes immediate, concrete actions to reduce tensions and called on all states to implement United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang.

The council also expressed "its commitment to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution."

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

China's UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi called on all parties to
exercise restraint and "avoid mutually provocative actions that might exacerbate the regional situation." He reiterated opposition to any "chaos or war" on the Korean Peninsula.

Liu also urged countries to stop imposing unilateral sanctions on individuals and entities in other countries and called for the halt of the THAAD deployment in South Korea.

The Security Council earlier this month unanimously imposed new sanctions on the DPRK that could slash the Asian state's 3-billion-US-dollar annual export revenue by a third after it staged two long-range missile launches in July.

The DPRK has been under UN sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

Source(s): Reuters