The UN Security Council will convene Tuesday to discuss North Korea after the isolated communist state test-fired three ballistic missiles into the sea during the G20 summit in China, sparking condemnation from a senior US official at the meeting. The discussion - requested by council members Japan and the United States - is slated to begin at 11:30 am local time (1530 GMT) in New York, where the council will consider a response to the latest missile launches.
North Korea test-fired three ballistic missiles into the sea Monday, South Korea said, in a new show of force as world leaders met in Hangzhou, China. The missiles were fired into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) from the North's Hwangju county at around 0300 GMT, a spokesman for Seoul's defence ministry said. The sabre-rattling follows the North's submarine-launched ballistic missile test some two weeks ago. "They are speculated to be Rodong missiles with a range of 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) and were fired without navigational warning to Japan," the spokesman said in a statement.