United Nations condemns North Korea rocket launch

Baku. 8 February. REPORT.AZ/ The UN Security Council has strongly condemned North Korea's rocket launch, promising to pass a new resolution in response to the move by Pyongyang, Report informs, UNSC President Rafael Ramirez said.

The document may be adopted “in the coming days,” Ramirez said, calling the North Korean rocket launch "a serious violation of Security Council resolutions."

After an urgent meeting in New York, the council said it would soon adopt a new sanctions resolution in response.

Pyongyang said it fired the rocket to place a satellite in orbit but critics believe the real purpose was to test ballistic missile technology.

Sunday's launch came weeks after North Korea conducted a fourth nuclear test. Both acts violate existing sanctions.

Amid the tension, a North Korean patrol boat briefly crossed into South Korean territory near the island of Socheong early on Monday morning, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry.

The ministry said that it retreated back across the border - a boundary line Pyongyang disputes - shortly after South Korean forces fired warning shots into the water around it.

Japan's envoy to the UN, Motohide Yoshikawa, said existing sanctions "have not stopped North Korea from developing nuclear weapons" and must be tightened.

US ambassador Samantha Power said the UN would "come up with something tough", saying: "There can be no business as usual."

She said the UN hoped China, North Korea's ally, would "see the grave threat to regional and international peace and security, see the importance of adopting tough, unprecedented measures, breaking new ground here, exceeding the expectations of Kim Jong-un".