South Korea has sent a letter to the United Nations calling for North Korea to be punished for its recent test-firings of short-range missiles, Yonhap News Agency reported Monday, citing a government source.
North Korea launched two short-range missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) on March 2 in apparent protest against the start of joint South Korea-US military exercises on the peninsula.
"The South Korean government has sent a letter stating that the North's firing of two ballistic missiles on the starting day of the joint South Korea-US exercises is a clear violation of a UN Security Council resolution and a counteraction is needed," the government source was quoted as saying. The letter was conveyed to the North Korea sanctions committee under the Security Council, he said. The UN committee was established pursuant to resolution 1718, which was adopted in 2006, right after the North's first nuclear test. The resolution, along with other similar resolutions adopted later on the North, prohibits the communist country from conducting nuclear tests or ballistic missile launches.
Seoul also filed a similar letter with the UN committee on North Korea sanctions last year after the North conducted a flurry of ballistic missile test-firings in the first half of 2014. In a follow-up step, a panel of experts under the sanctions committee will review the legality of the ballistic missile tests before deciding whether to formally file the case with the committee.