UN Security Council condemns North Korean missile launch

United Nations, Sep 16 : The UN Security Council condemned "the highly provocative launch of a ballistic missile" by North Korea and expressed commitment to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution to the ongoing crisis.

In a press statement released on Friday, the 15 council members urged all UN member states to "fully, comprehensively and immediately" implement all relevant Security Council resolutions concerning North Korea, particularly the newly adopted Resolution 2375, which targeted North Korea's oil supply and textile exports, Xinhua news agency reports said.

"The Security Council also emphasized the vital importance of North Korea immediately showing sincere commitment to denuclearization through concrete action and stressed the importance of working to reduce tension on the Korean Peinsula," said Tekeda Alemu, President of the Security Council.

The council members stressed the importance of maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia at large, and welcomed efforts by council members as well as other states to facilitate a peaceful and comprehensive settlement of the crisis through dialogue, said Alemu, the Ethiopian ambassador to the United Nations.

The emergency Security Council consultations were requested by the US and Japan following North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile on Friday local time, which flew over Japan's Hokkaido.

The launch, which violates Security Council resolutions, came just days after the council imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear test on September 3.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron also denounced the new missile launch by North Korea and called for the resumption of "direct talks" to address the Korean Peninsula issue during a phone conversation, the Kremlin press service said.

"In the context of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the Heads of State strongly condemned the provocative actions of North Korea, which grossly violated the requirements of the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Putin and Macron underlined that Resolution 2375 of the UN Security Council, which was unanimously passed on September 11, serves as the "adequate response of the international community to Pyongyang's irresponsible steps," according to the Kremlin.