US calls for UNSC meeting on North Korea's attempted satellite launch

The US has called for a U.N. Security Council meeting on Friday to discuss North Korea’s attempted satellite launch this week. Nate Evans, the spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said the United States had called for an open meeting on the launch, which means the proceedings would be streamed live. North Korea’s attempt to put its first spy satellite into space failed Wednesday in a setback to leader Kim Jong Un’s push to boost his military capabilities as tensions with the United States and South Korea rise. Washington, South Korea and Japan quickly criticized the launch. Adam Hodge, a spokesperson at the U.S. National Security Council, said Washington strongly condemns the North Korean launch because it used banned ballistic missile technology, raised tensions and risked destabilizing security in the region and beyond. However, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday accused the United States of “gangster-like” hypocrisy for criticizing her country’s failed launch of a military spy satellite. She insisted a successful launch will be made soon. Kim Yo Jong said North Korea’s efforts to acquire space-based reconnaissance capabilities were a legitimate exercise of its sovereign right and restated the country’s rejection of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban it from conducting any launch involving ballistic missile technology. Her comments on state media came a day after the rocket carrying the satellite failed. North Korea said the rocket lost thrust after a stage separation and crashed in waters off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast. A military spy satellite is one of several high-tech weapons systems that Kim has publicly vowed to develop to bolster his nuclear deterrent in the face of U.S. sanctions and pressure. Other weapons on his wish list include a multi-warhead missile, a nuclear submarine, a solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile and a hypersonic missile. While North Korea with past long-range missile and rocket tests has shown it can put satellites in space, it’s less clear whether its technology has advanced enough to meet its stated goal of using satellites to monitor U.S. and South Korean military activities in real time. The two Earth-observation satellites it placed in orbit in 2012 and 2016 never transmitted imagery back to North Korea, foreign experts say. And analysts say the new device displayed recently in state media appeared too small and crudely designed to process and transfer high-resolution imagery. The U.N. Security Council imposed economic sanctions on North Korea over its previous satellite and ballistic missile launches, but it has failed to punish the North over its recent tests. The council’s permanent members China and Russia have continuously rejected U.S.-led efforts to toughen sanctions on Pyongyang, underscoring a divide deepened over Russia’s war on Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg strongly condemned the launch using ballistic missile technology. “This blatantly violates several U.N. Security Council resolutions. It is a threat to neighbours and a challenge to global stability,” he said Thursday at a news conference in Oslo, Norway. “This launch raises tensions and poses risks to regional security and beyond.” With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.