UN Security Council condemns N Korea rocket launch

Council pledges to adopt new resolution with “significant” new sanctions following Pyongyang’s launch.

The UN Security Council strongly condemned North Korea’s rocket launch and said it would speed up work on a sanctions resolution “in response to these dangerous and serious violations”.

The statement on Sunday was adopted by China, Pyongyang’s ally, and the 14 other council members during an emergency meeting called after Pyongyang said it had put a satellite into orbit with a rocket launch.

Sunday’s launch followed Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test on January 6, which drew international condemnation and prompted China and the United States to open negotiations on new, tougher UN sanctions.


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A draft resolution prepared by Japan, South Korea and the United States has been in negotiations for weeks.

But Beijing has been reluctant to back measures that would take aim at North Korea’s already weak economy.

The 15-member council said it would “adopt expeditiously” a new sanctions resolution, but there was no indication that China would agree to US demands to include tougher measures.

Chinese Ambassador Liu Jieyi said the council should adopt “a new resolution that will do the work of reducing tensions, of working toward denuclearisation, of maintaining peace and stability, and of encouraging a negotiating solution.”


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China can use its veto power to block any resolution that would significantly scale up sanctions against Pyongyang by, for instance, barring North Korean ships from ports or restricting oil deliveries. 

US Ambassador Samantha Power stressed that the new set of sanctions should “break new ground” and appealed to China to recognise “the grave threat to international peace and security” posed by Pyongyang’s actions.

“There cannot be business as usual after two successive acts,” US Ambassador Samantha Power told reporters.

While the United States turned up the pressure to reach agreement on sanctions, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin warned: “We should not be looking at an economic collapse of DPRK.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the launch as a “violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions” that threatened international peace and security, as he emphasised the importance of a united international response to North Korea’s provocations.

The council has imposed four sets of sanctions on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006.

There are 20 North Korean entities and 12 individuals on the UN sanctions blacklist, which provides for an assets freeze and a global travel ban.

Alison Evans, a senior analyst at IHS Jane’s, told Al Jazeera: “This second launch is likely to only incrementally change the UN sanctions [on North Korea].

“It’s important to keep up sanctions and communications with North Korea. The problem is there is not much left to sanction.”

She added that China and the North were allies during the Korea War between 1950 and 1953.

“China’s greatest fear is that North Korea would collapse and there would be a flood of refugees into China.”

Source: News Agencies