The international community strongly condemned North Korea for its latest ballistic missile launch, fired toward the East Sea on Feb. 12.

Following the missile test, the U.N. Security Council convened for an urgent meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York on Feb. 13. It unanimously condemned North Korea and its latest missile test. A council statement, agreed to by all 15 members, deplored North Korea's latest provocation, seeing it as a violation of six Security Council resolutions that have demanded an end to Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile activities.



"The Security Council seriously deplores all of North Korea's ballistic missile activities. Not only do such provocations advance the delivery capability of nuclear and missile weapons, they also heighten tension across the Asia Pacific," said Ukrainian U.N. Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko, the current president of the Security Council.

Subsequently, senior defense officials from Korea, the U.S. and Japan called for an emergency video conference on Feb. 14 to strengthen their alliance against North Korea's growing missile threats.

The trilateral talks included Deputy Director General Park Chul-hyun from the Ministry of National Defense, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Christopher Johnson of the U.S. Department of Defense for East Asia, and Director Koji Kano of the Defense Policy Division of Japan's Ministry of Defense.

The three nations condemned North Korea's missile launch as an explicit and clear violation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions banning nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests. They also agreed that the North's "unlawful missile development program is a serious and lasting threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and to Northeast Asia."

By Lee Hana
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Yonhap News
hlee10@korea.kr