N. Korea will pay due price for violating UNSC resolutions: S. Korean envoy

Diplomacy 01:12 June 01, 2023

By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's failed launch of a spy satellite has violated United Nations Security Council resolutions and the country will face corresponding consequences, South Korea's ambassador to the United States said Wednesday.

Amb. Cho Hyun-dong also insisted that the North's provocative actions will only lead to further isolation.

"North Korea has said it will conduct a second launch, but any such launch will carry a due price," Cho said while meeting with reporters in Washington.

North Korea launched what it claimed to be its first military reconnaissance satellite on Wednesday morning (Korea time). The satellite fell into the Yellow Sea after what Pyongyang called an "abnormal" flight of its space launch vehicle.

"South Korea and the United States communicated at various levels of government immediately after the launch. The two governments issued a message condemning North Korea's launch," said Cho, adding, "North Korea's launch only worsens its isolation while strengthening the South Korea-U.S. alliance."

In a prebuttal of North Korea's planned launch, the U.S. has said the firing of a space launch vehicle (SLV) would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions that prohibit the North's use of any ballistic missile technology by Pyongyang.

"Any DPRK launch that uses ballistic missile technology, which would include SLVs used to launch a satellite into space, violates multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions," a state department spokesperson said earlier, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.