United Nations Security Council issues statement on North Korea missile strike

The United Nations Security Council adopted a statement today on the recent April 5, 2009 missile launch by the government of North Korea. The Security Council underscored the importance of maintaining peace, stability and security on the North Korean Peninsula and North-East Asia overall. The Security Council condemned the recent actions of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea).

UN Resolution 1718 of 2006 chronicles that the DPRK not conduct missile launches and calls upon all member-states to comply fully with their obligations under resolution 1718:

"Through its decision, the Council prohibited the provision of large-scale arms, nuclear technology and related training to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as well as luxury goods, calling upon all States to take cooperative action, including through inspection of cargo, in accordance with their respective national laws. The Council stressed that such inspections should aim to prevent illicit trafficking in nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, as well as their means of delivery and related materials. Regarding the freezing of assets, the Council provided specific exemptions for the transfer of monies to meet various financial obligations and humanitarian needs, specifying humanitarian exemptions for the travel ban, as well. To monitor and adjust the sanctions imposed on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Council decided to establish a committee consisting of all 15 members of the body, which would provide a report every 90 days, beginning with the passage of the resolution."

The Security Council today demanded the DPRK to not conduct any further launch. Resolution 1718 of 2006 underscores that all member-states must take action to halt missile launches. DPRK must report in response to this statement by April 24 2009 or the Council will take action on April 30 2009. The Security Council called on a resumption of Six-Party talks and to begin this process immediately.

The Six-Party talks aim to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns as a result of the North Korean nuclear weapons program. There has been a series of meetings with six participating states: the People's Republic of China; the Republic of Korea (South Korea); the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea); the United States of America; the Russian Federation; and Japan. These talks were a result of North Korea withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003. Five rounds of talks from 2003 to 2007 produced little success until the fifth round of talks, when North Korea agreed to shut down its nuclear facilities in exchange for fuel aid and steps towards the normalization of relations with the United States and Japan.