UN condemns N. Korea rocket launch; landing of missile near PH bared

By Foster Klug and Edith M. Lederer Seoul, South Korea – The United Nations Security Council condemned North Korea’s launch of a long-range rocket that world leaders called a banned test of ballistic missile technology and another “intolerable provocation.” The UN’s most powerful body pledged to quickly adopt a new resolution with “significant” new sanctions. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un went ahead with the launch just two hours after an eight-day window opened early Sunday, and a month after the country’s fourth nuclear test. He ignored an appeal from China, its neighbor and important ally, not to proceed, and, in another slap to Beijing, he chose the eve of the Chinese New Year, the country’s most important holiday. In a reflection of heightened hostilities between the rival Koreas, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said a South Korean naval vessel fired five shots into the water as a warning Monday when [...]