Japan to adopt parliamentary resolution to protest North Korea’s missile launch

Venezuelan ambassador Rafael Dario Ramirez Carreno, president of the Security Council this month, said the launch was “a serious violation of… resolutions”.

China – a key ally of Pyongyang’s – earlier said it regretted North Korea’s actions but urged “the relevant parties” to “refrain from taking actions that may further escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula”.

The U.N. Security Council held a closed-door emergency meeting at the request of the USA and Japan.

North Korea has said that its most recent nuclear test, its fourth, was a hydrogen bomb.

The communist nation says its launch is part of a peaceful space program, and allowed it to put a new Earth observation satellite, the Kwangmyongsong 4, or Shining Star 4, into orbit.

The U.S. and China had began discussing a United Nations sanctions resolutions following that test.

North Korea is believed to be working on miniaturizing a nuclear warhead to mount on a missile, but many experts say it is some time away from perfecting such technology.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan “absolutely can not allow this”, and told reporters at the prime minister’s residence: “We will take action to totally protect the safety and well-being of our people”.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation said the launch was in “direct violation” of five UN Security Council resolutions. North Korea had previously launched a satellite into orbit in 2012, after several failed attempts, though it’s not clear if that satellite is actually functional or not.

The council resolutions prohibit the DPRK from test-firing any rocket based on ballistic missile technology or conducting any nuclear activity.

The statement also noted that launches using ballistic missile technology, “even if characterized as a satellite launch or space launch vehicle” still fall under the category of nuclear weapon testing and development – two things that North Korea is prohibited from doing.

The U.S., South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, Britain, France, the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation have all condemned the launch.

The Norths scientists would work towards further satellite launches in the future, she added.

According to South Korea’s Defense Ministry, the patrol boat crossed the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea to the west of the Korean peninsula at 6:55 a.m. local time (21:55 UTC/GMT). A camera on the North Korean-Chinese border also snapped a picture of the rocket as a streak of light.