U.N. Security Council to hold emergency meeting on N.K. missile launches

NEW YORK, April 28 (Yonhap) -- The U.N. Security Council is expected to hold an emergency meeting to discuss North Korea's latest missile launches, diplomatic sources said Thursday.

The United States requested the meeting after the North launched two intermediate-range Musudan ballistic missiles earlier Thursday in violation of U.N. resolutions.

The council is expected to condemn the latest launches.

Earlier, the U.S. State Department strongly denounced the North's launches as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and said it would "raise our concerns at the U.N. to ensure that international resolve remains firm in holding the DPRK accountable for these provocative actions."

The launches were the latest in a series of provocative acts Pyongyang has undertaken to defy international pressure over its nuclear and missile program and assert the leadership of Kim Jong-un in the lead-up to next week's key meeting of the ruling Workers' Party.
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