US seeks action to enforce resolutions after North Korea missile launch

Power, who spoke along with her Japanese and South Korean counterparts, refrained from elaborating on what further action the Security Council could take. Monday’s missile launches were the latest in a series by North Korea this year in violation of Security Council resolutions that were supported by China banning ballistic missile-related activities by Pyongyang.

North Korea rejects the ban as infringing its sovereign right to pursue a space program and self defense. Asked whether China agreed more significant measures needed to be taken, permanent UK representative to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, said: “We’re talking to all of our council colleagues.”

Hahn Choong Hee, South Korea’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, said Pyongyang was spending “a considerable amount” of its resources in developing weapons of mass destruction while sacrificing the living conditions of North Koreans.

North Korea has been under UN sanctions since 2006. The 15-member Security Council toughened the sanctions in March in response to North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range rocket in February.

Earlier, France called the tests “extremely concerning” and “a clear and unacceptable new violation of the Security Council resolutions. “We very much favor a quick and firm reaction by the Security Council to this new provocation,” said Francois Delattre, French permanent representative to the UN.