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North Korean rocket launch :
US, Japan seek UN Meeting
UNITED NATIONS: The United States and Japan sought Sunday an
emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after North Korea fired a
long-range rocket believed to be a Taepodong-2 missile test in defiance
of UN resolutions.
From the Czech capital Prague hours before he was due to give a major
speech on nuclear proliferation, US President Barack Obama said North
Korea’s rocket launch was “provocative” and called for a UN Security
Council meeting to discuss the crisis.
In New York, Japan’s UN Ambassador Yukio Takasu late Saturday
requested an urgent meeting of the 15-member Security Council to discuss
what Washington, Tokyo and Seoul view as a clear violation of a 2006
council resolution.
The council will meet at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) Sunday to discuss the
implications of North Korea’s missile launch, a Mexican diplomat
representing the council president said.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan also described the North
Korean rocket launch as provocative act and said it was in in breach of
Security Council Resolution 1718, which was passed after the North’s
2006 missile and nuclear tests and bans it from conducting ballistic
missile tests.
But Pyongyang said its rocket would put a satellite into orbit as
part of a peaceful space program. It signed up to international treaties
on space exploration last month.
The North Korean rocket appears to have crossed over Japan and
reached airspace over the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese government said in
an email alert.
Sunday, AFP |
