U.N. Security Council discusses North Korea missile launch
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council held a closed-door meeting on Wednesday at the request of the United States and Japan to discuss North Korea's latest missile launch. North Korea fired a submarine-launched missile on Wednesday that flew more than 310 miles (500 km) toward Japan, an indication of improving technological capability for the isolated North Asian country that has conducted a series of missile launches in defiance of U.N. sanctions. Deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Petr Iliichev said "the Americans promised to circulate a press statement" on the issue but he had not seen a draft yet. The Security Council was unable to condemn the launch of a missile by North Korea earlier this month that landed near Japan because China wanted the statement to also oppose the planned deployment of a U.S. anti-missile defense system in South Korea. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon found the launch "deeply troubling," and urged North Korea to de-escalate the situation and return to talks on denuclearization, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by G Crosse and Tom Brown)
