UN Security Council to meet Tuesday on North Korea launches

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council will hold closed consultations Tuesday on North Korea’s recent ballistic missile launches, diplomats said Thursday.

In this Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019, photo provided Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019, by the North Korean government, an underwater-launched missile lifts off in the waters off North Korea’s eastern coastal town of Wonsan. North Korea fired a ballistic missile from the sea on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, a suggestion that it may have tested an underwater-launched missile for the first time in three years ahead of a resumption of nuclear talks with the United States this weekend. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

Britain, France and Germany called for a council meeting following the recent series of missile launches, which are a violation of U.N. sanctions.

The council session will take place following Saturday’s meeting of U.S. and North Korean officials in Stockholm. It will be the first U.S.-North Korean meeting since talks broke down in February at a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam.

Some council members wanted the Security Council meeting to take place Friday _ ahead of the U.S. talks, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions have been private. South African Ambassador Jerry Matjila, the current council president, and others told reporters there were scheduling issues.

In its latest test, North Korea said Thursday that it carried out its first underwater-launched ballistic missile test in three years. The firing on Wednesday was an apparent effort to increase pressure on the United States ahead of the weekend resumption of their nuclear diplomacy.

In late August, the United Kingdom, France and Germany issued a joint statement condemning the “repeated provocative launches” of ballistic missiles by North Korea.

The Western allies said the launches violate U.N. Security Council resolutions banning any such activity. They said that “international sanctions must remain in place and be fully and strictly enforced until North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs are dismantled.”

The U.K., France and Germany urged North Korea “to engage in meaningful negotiations with the U.S.,” as Trump and Kim agreed to on June 30 at their meeting in the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas.

North Korea responded days later, accusing the three countries of meddling in its “self-defensive measures for arms modernization.”

It said the West will make “no greater mistake” than thinking Pyongyang will give up its right to have weapons that it says are needed to ensure peace, according to a statement from Kim Son Gyong, an adviser at the Korea-Europe Association, circulated by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency. /gsg