UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned North Korea late Monday over its latest ballistic missile launches and warned of “further significant measures” if Pyongyang doesn’t stop nuclear and missile testing.
A council statement agreed to by all 15 members followed strong condemnation by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of the latest launch and President Trump’s pledge to deal with North Korea “very strongly.”
The Security Council condemned Saturday’s launch and a previous test Oct. 19, saying North Korea’s activities to develop its nuclear weapons delivery systems violate U.N. sanctions and increase tensions. It called on all U.N. members “to redouble their efforts” to implement U.N. sanctions.
North Korea has repeatedly flouted six Security Council resolutions demanding an end to its nuclear and ballistic missile activities and imposing increasingly tougher sanctions.
The latest missile test is seen as an implicit challenge to Trump, who has vowed a tough line on North Korea but has yet to release a strategy for dealing with a country whose nuclear ambitions have bedeviled U.S. leaders for decades.
“North Korea is a big, big problem and we will deal with that very strongly,” Trump said at a joint news conference Monday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Nikki Haley, his U.N. ambassador, said in a statement later: “We call on all members of the Security Council to use every available resource to make it clear to the North Korean regime – and its enablers – that these launches are unacceptable.”
“It is time to hold North Korea accountable – not with our words, but with our actions,” she said.
There was no indication of what “actions” the Trump administration has in mind, and Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador, Volodymyr Yelchenko, the current council president, and Japanese Ambassador Koro Bessho wouldn’t comment on possible “further significant measures.”
Those same words were used in the last Security Council statement on the unsuccessful Oct. 17 missile test by North Korea. That was followed by the latest sanctions resolution Nov. 30 targeting North Korea’s hard currency revenues by placing a cap on coal exports
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