As N. Korea Launches Yet Another Missile, U.N. Reacts With Same Old Statement
(CNSNews.com) – The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday issued a statement condemning the latest North Korean ballistic missile launch, “in flagrant disregard of the repeated statements of the Security Council.”
It was the eighth such statement responding to North Korean launches since February this year, and the wording was virtually identical to the previous three, issued on Aug. 26, Jun. 23 and Jun. 1.
Tuesday’s statement ended with a commitment to “closely monitor the situation and take further significant measures in line with the Council’s previously expressed determination.”
The exact same wording, incorporating a pledge to “take further significant measures,” appeared in the last three such statements, on Aug. 26, Jun. 23 and Jun. 1, as well as in an earlier one, issued on Apr. 15. The “previously expressed determination” refers to the wording of a 2013 UNSC resolution.
Earlier Tuesday, President Obama said after meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Laos that “North Korea needs to know that provocations will only invite more pressure and further deepen its isolation.”
All eight UNSC statements issued since February are “press statements” – the weakest option available to the U.N.’s top decision-making body.
(The U.N. describes a press statement as “a declaration to the media made by the president of the Security Council on behalf of all 15 members [and] issued as a United Nations press release” while a presidential statement is “a statement made by the president of the Security Council on behalf of the Council, adopted at a formal meeting of the Council and issued as an official document of the Council.”)
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