UN set to hold meeting on North Korea's latest missile launch: Seoul official

People watch a TV at Seoul Railway showing a file image of a North Korean missile launch during a news program, March 5. AP-Yonhap

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) plans to convene a session this week in response to North Korea's latest projectile launch, a South Korean government official said Monday.

It would be the second meeting of the council in about a week in connection with such a move by the recalcitrant regime.

Regarding the North's test-launch of an apparent ballistic missile Saturday, some members of the influential panel have requested closed-door discussions, and the meeting is scheduled to open Monday morning (local time), according to the foreign ministry official who requested anonymity.

"Our government is in close communication with major members of the security council including the United States," the official added.

The North launched what appeared to be a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) into the East Sea, Saturday, in its ninth show of such force this year alone, the South's military said.

The following day, Pyongyang's state media reported that the nation's defense science authorities have conducted "another important test under the plan of developing a reconnaissance satellite."

The U.S. and some like-minded U.N. member states are expected to issue a joint statement again condemning Pyongyang's saber-rattling amid speculation that South Korea may join the move.

"(The government) plans to respond (to the issue) in comprehensive consideration of North Korea's repeated missile launches, and seriousness," another ministry official said.

In the wake of a UNSC session late last month on Pyongyang's eighth missile launch this year, South Korea, the U.S. and nine other countries formally expressed a unified position against it. (Yonhap)