North Korea missile launch: South Korea, Japan, US call for emergency UN Meeting

South Korea, Japan and the US have requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to analyse the latest ballistic missile launch by North Korea. According to diplomatic sources, the date for the meeting, which usually takes place behind closed doors, is under discussion, Efe news reported.

South Korean Defence Ministry in Seoul shows South Korea's missile system firing Hyunmoo-2 missile into the East Sea from an undisclosed location on South Korea's east coast during a precision-strike missile exercise aimed to counter North Korea's missile test. Pic/AFP

The meeting could take place on Wednesday, when the Security Council has already scheduled a session to discuss the sanctions regime against Pyongyang. UN Security Council President Sebastiano Cardi told reporters that this could be an opportunity. The representative of Japan before the UN, Koro Bessho, has condemned North Korea's missile test, noting that the launch, the first to be conducted by Pyongyang in more than 70 days, is "very worrying".

"We have condemned them publicly. We criticize their behaviour in the strongest terms possible," Bessho said at the UN headquarters. His British counterpart Matthew Rycroft said that, if confirmed, the test is "another reckless act by a regime that is more intent on building up its ballistic missile and nuclear capability than it is on looking after its own people."

According to Seoul authorities, North Korea launched a ballistic missile on early Wednesday towards the Sea of Japan. The Japanese government reported that the missile could have flown about 50 minutes and may have fallen into the waters of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) about 210 km off the coast of the Aomori prefecture, in the north of the country.

The head of the Pentagon, James Mattis warned that the missile seemed to have reached a higher altitude than any of the previous ones, which puts global and regional peace in danger.