UN chief condemns N Korea's solid-fuel ballistic missile launch

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "strongly condemns" the recent launch of what North Korea said was a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, an official told the Security Council Monday.

The North has hailed the launch as a key breakthrough in its nuclear counterattack capabilities under leader Kim Jong Un.

"The Secretary-General reiterates his calls on the DPRK to immediately desist from taking any further destabilizing actions," said Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari, using an acronym for the North's official name.

Testing the more technologically advanced solid-fuel missile was one of Kim's major goals in his military modernization campaign, announced in his New Year report.

Such missiles are easier to store and transport, more stable and quicker to prepare for launch, and thus harder to detect and destroy pre-emptively.

Guterres called on North Korea to "fully comply with its international obligations under all relevant Security Council resolutions, and to resume dialogue leading to sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," said Khiari, whose purview includes Asia.

Khiari additionally condemned the "lack of unity and action in the Security Council" on the matter, adding that the body "does little to slow the negative trajectory on the Korean Peninsula."

North Korea, he said, remained "unconstrained," with other parties "compelled to focus on military deterrence."

"The unity of the Security Council on the DPRK is essential to ease tensions and overcome the diplomatic impasse," Khiari concluded.

The Security Council's last display of unity on the issue came in 2017.

Under the administration of then-president Donald Trump, the United States led the council to adopt three resolutions imposing sanctions on Pyongyang after missile and nuclear tests.

In a joint statement Monday, nine Council members plus South Korea condemned the launch "in the strongest possible terms."

"This type of irresponsible activity, alongside destabilizing messages, is imprudent and dangerous, and we must not condone it as business as usual," they said, calling on all UN member states to "join us in strongly condemning this perilous behavior."