UNITED NATIONS — Eight days after North Korea’s rocket launch, the U.N. Security Council on Monday unanimously condemned the action, demanded an end to missile tests and said it will expand sanctions against the reclusive communist nation.
North Korea said in response that it will boycott the stalled six-party talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear weapons program and restore the nuclear facilities it had been disabling.
The council’s statement, agreed on by all 15 members and read at a formal meeting of the United Nations’ most powerful body, said the launch violated a council resolution adopted after the North conducted a nuclear test explosion in 2006 that banned any missile tests by the country.
The statement was a weaker response than a U.N. resolution, which was sought by Japan and the United States but was opposed by China and Russia.
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice insisted the statement is legally binding, just like a resolution — a view backed by Russia — but other diplomats and officials disagreed.
Japanese Ambassador Yukio Takasu, calling his country the most threatened by the rocket launch, said his government was “very pleased” by the unanimous message to North Korea that it had conducted a “very provocative act” and had violated the 2006 resolution.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement today that it “resolutely condemns” the U.N. action and that the world body’s statement “rampantly” infringes upon the country’s sovereignty and “severely debases” the people’s dignity.
“We have no choice but to further strengthen our nuclear deterrent to cope with additional military threats by hostile forces,” the statement said.
President Barack Obama called the statement a “clear and united message” that North Korea’s action was unlawful and would result in real consequences, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a release.
North Korea carried out the rocket launch in the face of intense international pressure, saying it put a satellite in orbit as allowed under a U.N. space treaty.
The U.S., Japan and South Korea claimed North Korea was really testing long-range missile technology, in violation of the 2006 resolution.
