Americas

Americas

U.S. asks U.N. Security Council to meet Thursday on N.Korea -diplomats

02 February 2022 02:15 (UTC +04:00)

The United States, supported by Britain and France, has asked the U.N. Security Council to meet behind closed-doors on Thursday over North Korea's launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile, diplomats said on Tuesday, APA reports quoting Reuters.

North Korea confirmed on Monday it had launched a Hwasong-12 ballistic missile, the same weapon it had once threatened to target the U.S. territory of Guam with, sparking fears the nuclear-armed state could resume long-range testing.

The launch of the intermediate-range ballistic missile was first reported by South Korean and Japanese authorities on Sunday. It was the seventh test conducted by North Korea last month and the first time a nuclear-capable missile of that size has been launched since 2017.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday condemned the launch and urged Pyongyang "to desist from taking any further counter-productive actions," a U.N. spokesman said.