UN vows firm response after rocket launch

THE United Nations Security Council strongly condemned a rocket launch by North Korea yesterday and promised to take punitive steps, while Washington vowed to ensure the 15-nation body imposes serious consequences on Pyongyang as soon as possible.

North Korea launched a longrange rocket yesterday carrying what it called a satellite, but its neighbours and the United States denounced the launch as a missile test, conducted just weeks after a nuclear bomb test last month.

North Korea said the launch of the satellite Kwangmyongsong-4, named after late leader Kim Jong Il, was a “complete success” and it was making a polar orbit of Earth every 94 minutes.

The launch order was given by his son, leader Kim Jong Un, who is believed to be 33.

“The members of the Security Council strongly condemned this launch,” Venezuelan ambassador Rafael Dario Ramirez Carreno, who is council president this month, said.

Calling the launch a serious violation, he said the council “restated their intent to develop significant measures” in a new Security Council resolution in response to last month’s nuclear test as well as yesterday’s rocket launch.

Standing alongside her Japanese and South Korean counterparts, US ambassador Samantha Power said: “We will ensure that the Security Council imposes serious consequences.

“DPRK’s [North Korea] latest transgressions require our response to be even firmer.”

The US and China began discussing a resolution to expand existing UN sanctions after Pyongyang’s January 6 test.

Pyongyang has been under UN sanctions because of its nuclear weapons programme since it first tested an atomic device in 2006.

Power said she hoped the council would have a draft resolution to vote on as soon as possible.

“We are hopeful that China, like all council members, will see the grave threat to regional and international peace and security [and] see the importance of adopting tough, unprecedented measures.”

Diplomats said Washington was closely consulting with Japan, South Korea, Britain and France on its discussions with China, while Beijing was keeping in close contact with fellow veto power Russia.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one senior Western diplomat said he hoped the council would be able to vote on a new sanctions resolution this month.

He said the US had been pushing for tough new measures that went beyond targeting North Korea’s atomic weapons and missile programmes, while China wanted any future steps to focus on the question of nonproliferation.

Another diplomat said Washington was hoping to tighten international restrictions on North Korea’s banking system, while Beijing was reluctant to support that for fear of worsening conditions in its impoverished neighbour.

“China wants any steps to be measured but it wants the council to send a clear message to DPRK that it must comply with council resolutions,” the diplomat said.

China expressed regret and concern over yesterday’s rocket launch, which employed ballistic missile technology.

It called on all sides to act cautiously and refrain from steps that might raise tension.

China is North Korea’s main ally but disapproves of its nuclear weapons programme.

Speaking ahead of yesterday’s closed-door session, France’s UN ambassador, Francois Delattre, described the launch as an outrageous provocation.

“That is why weakness is not an option,” he said.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he had spoken with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, and had agreed the council should take strong action.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon urged North Korea to halt its provocative actions.

North Korea had notified UN agencies that it planned to launch a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite, triggering opposition from governments that see it as a long-range missile test.

North Korea’s National Aerospace Development Administration called the launch “an epochal event in developing the country’s science, technology, economy and defence capability by legitimately exercising the right to use space for independent and peaceful purposes”.