UNITED NATIONS, United States, Sept 16, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - The UN Security
Council on Wednesday gathered behind closed doors for an emergency meeting
about North Korea's latest ballistic missile test which member states
consider a "major threat," the French ambassador said.

   In the past, such meetings -- this one called by Estonia and France --
have often resulted in a joint statement by European members of the Security
Council.

   But France's ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Riviere, said there was
consensus among the group.

   "We all condemned what happened, the tests," he said. "Everyone is very
concerned about this situation," de Riviere told several journalists after
the 45-minute meeting.

   "This is a major threat to peace and security, it's a clear violation of
the Council's resolutions," he added, saying that the missiles had fallen
"within Japan's exclusive economic zone."

   "Of course we need a political dialogue, a political solution, but the
precondition is compliance (by) the DPRK with UN Security Council
resolutions," de Riviere said, using an acronym for North Korea.

   "It's a threat to the non-proliferation regime, it's a threat to the
world, it's a threat to the neighbors of DPRK: South Korea, Japan," he said.

   He added that no joint draft statement was expected to come from the
Security Council.

   "We fully understand the concerns in this region and we urge DPRK to
compliance and resumption of talks."

   In a statement from London, the British Foreign Office meanwhile condemned
the test as a "clear violation" of Security Council resolutions and a "threat
to regional peace and security," as the United States has also done.

   "We urge North Korea to refrain from further provocations, and to return
to dialogue with the US," the British statement said.

   Earlier Wednesday, South Korea fired a submarine ballistic missile and
North Korea again fired two ballistic missiles into the sea, in what seems to
have become an arms race between two countries still technically at war.

   South Korea is not subject to bans on launching ballistic missile tests,
according to UN diplomatic sources.

   That is in contrast to North Korea, which has faced a series of heavy
economic sanctions, especially since 2017, as the international community
seeks to limit the North's ballistic and nuclear weapons programs.