UN chief urges North Korea to halt inflammatory actions

United Nations, March 19: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged North Korea to comply with UN Security Council resolutions and to halt inflammatory and escalatory actions.

Stephane Dujarric, UN Secretary-General's spokesperson, told a daily briefing on Friday that "the situation on the Korean peninsula including the latest ballistic missile launches is deeply troubling", Xinhua news agency reported.

"We once again urged the DPRK (North Korea) to comply with its international obligations, including relevant Security Council resolutions and halt these inflammatory and escalatory actions," said Dujarric.

North Korea fired a medium-range ballistic missile into its eastern waters earlier on Thursday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

The missile launch was seen as a show of force and anger at the ongoing joint military exercises between South Korea and the US, as well as the tougher-than-ever sanctions on North Korea.

Diplomats said the US plans to raise the issue of North Korea missile launch at a Security Council meeting later on Friday.

Earlier this month, the 15-nation Council adopted a resolution to impose a new raft of sanctions on North Korea to curb its nuclear and missile programs.

IANS