 UN Security Council condemns N.Korea failed missile launch United Nations, United States (AFP) Oct 17, 2016 - The UN Security Council on Monday strongly condemned North Korea after a failed missile launch, threatening further measures against Pyongyang. North Korea tested a medium-range Musudan missile on Saturday, the latest in series of launches in defiance of UN resolutions. The rocket exploded soon after lift-off. In a unanimous statement backed by China, Pyongyang's ally, the council "strongly condemned the most recent failed ballistic missile launch," branding it a "grave violation" of North Korea's international obligations. Council members agreed to "closely monitor the situation and take further significant measures," the statement said. The United States and China are drafting a new sanctions resolution that the Security Council agreed last month to pursue after Pyongyang carried out its fifth and most powerful nuclear test to date. North Korea has been hit by five sets of UN sanctions since it first tested a nuclear device in 2006. After Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test, the council in March adopted the toughest sanctions resolution so far, targeting North Korea's trade in minerals and tightening banking restrictions. Negotiations on the new sanctions measure are focussed on closing loopholes and zeroing in on North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile technology industry, according to Security Council diplomats. North Korea has carried out more than 20 missile launches since the March resolution was adopted.
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An explosion almost immediately after launch was behind the failure of North Korea's latest test-firing of a powerful medium-range missile, the South Korean military confirmed Monday.
North Korea tested a Musudan missile -- capable of hitting US bases as far away as Guam -- shortly after midday Saturday near an air base in the northwestern city of Kusong.
Such launches are usually reported within a few hours or even minutes by South Korean and US military monitors, but the news of Saturday's test only came out around 16 hours after the event.
"North Korea's missile launch failed shortly after lift-off so a considerable amount of time was needed to analyse it," a South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff official told reporters Monday.
A defence ministry spokesman confirmed the missile exploded soon after lift-off, in the very initial stage of the launch.
First unveiled as an indigenous missile at a military parade in Pyongyang in October 2010, the Musudan has a theoretical range of anywhere between 2,500 and 4,000 kilometres (1,500 and 2,500 miles).
The lower estimate covers the whole of South Korea and Japan, while the upper range would include US military bases on Guam.
After a string of five failed launches, North Korea test fired a Musudan in June that flew 400 kilometres into the Sea of Japan (East Sea). Saturday's test weas the first since then.
The June flight had been hailed by leader Kim Jong-Un as proof of the North's ability to strike US bases across "the Pacific operation theatre".
US weapons analysts say successful Musudan testing could help the nuclear-armed North develop an operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of striking the US mainland by 2020.
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