UNSC to hold emergency meet to discuss N.Korea missile launch

In the wake of North Korea launching an Inter Continental Ballistic Missile near a sea in Japan, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has decided to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday.

"A short time ago, (US) Ambassador [to the UN] Nikki Haley and her counterparts from Japan and the Republic of Korea requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting to be held in the open chamber in response to North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile launch," TASS quoted the US mission to the UN in a statement.

"The Security Council session will be held tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m. EDT," the statement added.

 

Yesterday, An Intercontinental Ballistic Missile reached a height of 2,802 kilometres (1741 miles), according to state broadcaster Korea Central Television (KCTV).

That's the highest ever altitude reached by a North Korean missile, and puts the U.S. on notice that Pyongyang could potentially hit the U.S. mainland.

In a rare announcement, state North Korean television announced that Kim Jong-un had personally overseen the "landmark" test of a Hwasong-14 intercontinental missile (KN-14).

Reacting to the missile test, President Donald Trump, earlier today, called on China to shun and rein in North Korea.

"North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that South Korea and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!," Trump tweeted.

China also criticised North Korea for launching an Inter Continental Ballistic missile near Japan coast and called on the UNSC to ban Pyongyang from conducting any launches that use ballistic missile technology, nuclear tests or any other provocation.

"China urges the DPRK to refrain from acts that violate UN Security Council resolutions so as to create necessary conditions for resuming dialogue and negotiation," Xinuhua quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang as saying on Tuesday.