Several nations request urgent consultations on North Korea
WASHINGTON -- Several nations have requested urgent consultations on North Korea, and a closed-door meeting is tentatively planned for Tuesday afternoon, CBS News' Pamela Falk reports.
The Japanese Mission to the U.N. told CBS News that the request for an urgent meeting was a trilateral request by Japan, the U.S. and South Korea.
The U.S. and China have been negotiating a new round of biting sanctions, if further provocations were to occur. The question will be if the most recent missile test spurs U.N. Security Council action, Falk reports.
Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley tweeted out the following earlier today:
There are no excuses that justify N. Korea's actions. This was close to home for Russia. China cant expect dialogue. This threat is real.
— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) May 14, 2017
North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile early Sunday morning from a facility near the country's west coast, U.S. officials told CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. The launch came five days after South Koreans went to the polls to elect a new president who favors dialogue with North Korea.
The missile flew for half an hour and reached an unusually high altitude before landing in the Sea of Japan, the South Korean, Japanese and U.S. militaries said. Tokyo said the flight pattern could indicate a new type of missile.
The launch jeopardizes new South Korean President Moon Jae-in's willingness for dialogue with the North, and came as U.S., Japanese and European navies gather for joint war games in the Pacific.
"The president expressed deep regret over the fact that this reckless provocation ... occurred just days after a new government was launched in South Korea," senior presidential secretary Yoon Young-chan said. "The president said we are leaving open the possibility of dialogue with North Korea, but we should sternly deal with a provocation to prevent North Korea from miscalculating."
Moon, South Korea's first liberal leader in nearly a decade, said as he took his oath of office last week that he'd be willing to visit the North if the circumstances were right.
President Trump has also said he'd be "honored" to talk with leader Kim Jong Un under favorable conditions. But on Sunday, the White House said in a statement that the missile launch should serve as a "call for all nations to implement far stronger sanctions against North Korea."
"North Korea has been a flagrant menace for far too long," the statement read. "South Korea and Japan have been watching this situation closely with us. The United States maintains our ironclad commitment to stand with our allies in the face of the serious threat posed by North Korea."
While it wasn't immediately clear what type of missile was launched over the weekend, the U.S. Pacific Command said that "the flight is not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile."