UN Security Council Meets to Address North Korean Provocations

The United Nations Security Council received a briefing Wednesday on the recent “deeply troubling” developments concerning North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs from the UN’s Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Khaled Khiari. He noted that North Korea has launched ballistic missiles or other projectiles thirteen times this year, including the late November launch of two projectiles. All such launches and testing are in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, he said. Signs of a rocket-engine test at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground were reported in the past few days, Mr. Khiari noted. North Korea has also refused to continue any meaningful dialogue with the United States and instead has issued increasingly hostile warnings.