UN chief urges North Korea to refrain from ‘further provocation’

THE HAGUE – UN chief Ban Ki-moon made an urgent appeal to North Korea on Monday to refrain from “any further provocation”, following reports that the increasingly isolated state is preparing another nuclear test.

“The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea cannot go on like this, confronting and challenging the authority of the (UN) Security Council and the international community,” Ban said in The Hague. “I am urging them to refrain from taking any further provocative measures.”