Informal comments to the media by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, joined by the Permanent Representatives of Albania, Brazil, France, Ireland, Japan, Norway, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom, on the DPRK's ballistic missile launches.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield today (4 Feb) said the DPRK’s launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) this week, “is a significant escalation in the DPRK’s recent violations of multiple Security Council resolutions and seeks to further destabilize the region.”
The statement condemned “this unlawful action in the strongest terms,” adding that it marks “the regime’s longest-range test since late 2017.”
It also noted that “the nine ballistic missiles launched in January is the largest number of launches the DPRK has conducted in a single month in the history of its WMD and ballistic missile programs.”
Reading the statement, Thomas-Greenfield said, “the cost of the Council’s ongoing silence is too high. It will embolden the DPRK to further defy the international community; to normalize its violations of Security Council resolutions; to further destabilize the region; and to continue to threaten international peace and security. This is an outcome that we should not accept.”
Responding to a question from a journalists, the US Ambassador said, “the United States has made clear that we are willing to meet with the North Koreans without preconditions. But before we can commit our president to meeting, we need to have a better sense of what there is to achieve. I can't comment on what the Trump administration achieved. We had ballistic missiles testing throughout the past four years. It never stopped him. So we have to keep keep up the pressure.”
The test was the seventh missile test overall carried out this year by North Korea, and marked the sixth ballistic missile test, according to reports.
Earlier last week, two short range ballistic missiles were reportedly fired into the sea of the east coast, and what were believed to be cruise missiles, were fired into the same waters a few days earlier.
In early January, DPRK claimed to have successfully tested two hypersonic missiles, and then another from a rail car, on 14 January.
Security Council resolutions prohibit the development of all ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.
