Diplomatic sources said on Tuesday that the United States had called for a new meeting of the United Nations Security Council on North Korea, which has been launching several ballistic missiles in recent days.

An embassy source, who did not want to be named, told the AFP that the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Albania and Mexico had expressed support for Thursday’s closed-door meeting at the invitation of the United States.

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In an interview with the Washington Post on Tuesday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield said Washington would “continue to increase pressure on the North Koreans.”

The Security Council convened on January 10 at the invitation of almost all countries, shortly after which North Korea’s new ballistic test was described as “provocative” by an ambassador from a member state.

In a joint statement, the United States, Albania, France, Ireland, Japan and the United Kingdom called on Pyongyang to “abstain from any new destabilizing action,” but North Korea ignored that call and continued its missile tests, which were renewed on Monday.

Following the imposition of financial sanctions on five North Koreans, Washington last Wednesday moved to add five people to the Security Council’s list of individual international sanctions.

Source: AFP

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