North Korea risks UN wrath with more rocket tests

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

North Korea tested four rockets Wednesday, according to South Korea’s military – as the already sanctioned North risked further condemnation by the United Nations Security Council.

Just four days earlier the reclusive state had drawn strong criticism from the head of United States Forces Korea, General Curtis Scaparotti, for launching two ballistic missiles despite being banned from using such technology by U.N. resolutions.

Scaparotti said Sunday that the North’s continued defiance of its obligations was “not acceptable” and that it would “further isolate them from the international community.”

Earlier this month, the U.N. Security Council issued a statement condemning North Korea’s recent series of missile and rocket launches – there have now been 16 separate tests in 2014 alone.

The latest were suspected 300 mm rockets, according to a statement from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and "were fired from a site near Mount Myohyang in Pyongan province at 7:30 a.m., 7:40 a.m., 5:50 p.m. and around 6 p.m."

"The two projectiles launched in the morning flew for just a few seconds. It appears that the North's firing failed," the statement added, while the third rocket is understood to have landed in the East Sea followed by a fourth inland.

Despite the apparent morning failures, the third rocket launch appears to be the first time that North Korea has been able to fire a 300 mm rocket more than 200 kilometers from an inland position.

While the JCS said South Korea’s military was maintaining “vigilance,” attention was turning towards the U.N. Security Council – which is due to meet next Tuesday to discuss the North’s actions, according to government sources cited Wednesday by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

The Koreas technically remain at war after an armistice, rather than a peace treaty, brought the 1950-53 Korean War to a close.

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