South Korea urges UN to act on North Korean missile launch

The South Korean government on Tuesday called upon the UN to take action after North Korea conducted its first ballistic missile launch from a submarine which Seoul considers as a violation of Security Council resolutions.

Seoul sent a letter to the UN Security Council's North Korea Sanctions Committee to address the issue, Efe news agency cited a South Korean foreign ministry spokesperson as saying at a press conference on Tuesday.

The North Korean regime announced on May 9 over its state media that it had successfully conducted its first submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) launch and published photos of the operation.

The deployment of SLBMs would create an additional threat for South Korea, as the missiles are difficult to intercept and are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

However, many experts have expressed doubts about the veracity of the SLBM launch, given that it required highly advanced techniques.

Both South Korea and the US believe North Korea's achievement to be true, and have announced that they would take measures against it.

South Korea has unilaterally, without consulting its North American partner, approached the UN, the spokesperson said.

The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions on North Korea on several occasions for having conducted nuclear and missile tests, and many of its resolutions explicitly ban the regime from conducting ballistic missile launches.