North Korea Nuclear Missiles Crisis Latest News 2017: U.N. Condemns Launch as Pyongyang Promises More to Come
The United Nations did not hold back in condemning North Korea's ballistic missile launch over Japan as "outrageous" and called for Pyongyang to put a stop to its weapons program.
Not to be deterred, however, the isolated nation calls the launch as a first military step to "contain" the United States territory of Guam in the Pacific, according to Reuters. North Korea notes that its launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a move against the joint military drills that the U.S. and South Korea has been conducting.
On Tuesday, Aug. 22, North Korea launched the same Hwasong-12 missile that it threatened to use on Guam. The flight took the IRBM over northern Japan's Hokkaido islands before splashing down into the sea.
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North Korea's KCNA news agency quoted the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, as he remarked on the test launch. "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," Kim said, referring to the Korean People's Army.
In response, the 15-member Security Council of the U.N. pronounced a statement, drafted by the U.S., describing it as of "vital importance" for states to implement U.N. sanctions against the isolationist regime. The statement does not threaten new sanctions on North Korea on top of existing ones, however.
China's and Russia's representation in the U.N., meanwhile, opposed any unilateral sanctions on North Korea. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that his country is currently in talks with other Security Council members to arrive at a "necessary response" concerning their notorious ally.
The video below from Reuters recalls the alarm caused by North Korea's ballistic missile flying over the northernmost islands of Japan last Tuesday, Aug. 22.
