UNITED NATIONS, Sept 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN Security Council on Wednesday gathered behind closed doors for an emergency meeting about North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test which member states consider a “major threat,” the French ambassador said.
In the past, such meetings — this one called by Estonia and France — have often resulted in a joint statement by European members of the Security Council.
But France’s ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Riviere, said there was consensus among the group.
“We all condemned what happened, the tests,” he said. “Everyone is very concerned about this situation,” de Riviere told several journalists after the 45-minute meeting.
“This is a major threat to peace and security, it’s a clear violation of the Council’s resolutions,” he added, saying that the missiles had fallen “within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.”
“Of course we need a political dialogue, a political solution, but the precondition is compliance (by) the DPRK with UN Security Council resolutions,” de Riviere said.
“It’s a threat to the non-proliferation regime, it’s a threat to the world, it’s a threat to the neighbors of DPRK: South Korea, Japan,” he said.
He added that no joint draft statement was expected to come from the Security Council.
“We fully understand the concerns in this region and we urge DPRK to compliance and resumption of talks.” — NNN-AGENCIES
