UN Security Council strongly condemns North Korea missile test

The council said it will closely monitor developments in North Korea

UNITED NATIONS, UNITED STATES,: The UN Security Council on Thursday strongly condemned North Korea's latest ballistic missile test, calling it a "flagrant and provocative" defiance of UN resolutions.

The council unanimously adopted the statement of condemnation as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Florida for his first meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Council members "expressed their utmost concern" about North Korea's "highly destabilizing behavior and flagrant and provocative defiance of the Security Council."



North Korea fired the ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan on Wednesday in what was seen as a warning ahead of the US-China summit.

The KN-15 medium-range ballistic missile flew around 40 miles (60 kilometers), South Korea's defense ministry said.

Pyongyang is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US mainland, and has staged five nuclear tests so far, two of them last year.

UN resolutions bar North Korea from developing nuclear and missile technology.

The council said it would closely monitor developments in North Korea and "take further significant measures," without elaborating.

The latest launch was a "grave violation" of Pyongyang's obligations under UN resolutions, it said.



US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will make his first visit to the United Nations on April 28 to chair a council meeting on North Korea.

The United States holds the presidency of the Security Council in April, giving Trump's administration an opportunity to showcase its foreign policy priorities.

The council has imposed six sets of sanctions on North Korea - two of which were adopted last year to significantly ramp up measures and deny Kim Jong-UN's regime hard currency revenue.