North Korea’s latest missile tests prompts calls for new UN sanctions

The U.S. is calling for new sanctions against North Korea after the country tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017 on Thursday.

The U.N. needs to “update and strengthen” sanctions against North Korea, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said at a meeting Friday, The Associated Press reported.

“It is clear that remaining silent, in the hope that the DPRK would similarly show restraint, is a failed strategy,” she said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, the country’s official name. 

Thomas-Greenfield did not say what the sanctions should be, while Russia and China pushed back on the idea, according to the AP.

The calls for sanctions by the U.S. came after North Korea was condemned for its missile test Thursday, one of multiple since the start of 2022.

The missile was in the air for 70 minutes before crashing into the waters west of Japan after traveling 671 miles.

“It’s an unforgivable recklessness. We resolutely condemn the act,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said after the country detected the missile.

South Korea responded by conducting its own military drills while President Moon Jae-in called an emergency meeting of the national security council.

​​White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the test a “brazen violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region.”

“This action demonstrates that the [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] continues to prioritize its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs over the well-being of its people,” she said.