U.N.Condemns North Korea Rocket Launch; Kim Jong-un Praises Military

The United Nations has issued a unanimous statement on Monday denouncing North Korea's attempted satellite launch and warned of further actions in response to new ballistic missile tests or nuclear testing from the North.

The Security Council has also announced the intention to impose further sanctions on the North.

Last Friday night, North Korea's rocket failed less than 2 minutes into the launch. The North describes its attempt as a peaceful, civilian means to deliver its first satellite into orbit, but the U.S., South Korea, and Japan have denounced it as a front for ballistic missile testing.

The U.N. has warned North Korea from conducting future launches using ballistic missile technology and called on Pyongyang to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.

The office of UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon issued a statement last Friday calling North Korea's satellite launch deplorable.

It defies the firm and unanimous stance of the international community. The launch is in direct violation of Security Council Resolution 1874 and threatens regional stability, said Ban's office.

The North held a major military parade and celebratory events on Sunday, April 15, to commemorate the centennial of its founder Kim Il-sung's birthday.

In his first public speech, the nation's young leader Kim Jong-un spoke of the work of his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and father, Kim Jong-il, in making North Korea a great and militarily powerful nation. He described the parade as a means to promote the impressive posture of a powerful nation to the entire world.

The young Kim praised his predecessors as the respective founder and builder of our revolutionary armed forces.

Kim Jong-un stated that his country would continue to pursue its policy of son'gun or military first ideology to strengthen itself regardless of the condition of external world and whatever difficulties the external world presents us.

He ended by urging fellow citizens to make sacrifices in supporting the military and achieving final victory in the country's struggles.

The U.S. government has already formally announced cancelation of food assistance to the North after the launch on Friday.

Speaking in South Korea's capital Seoul on Monday, Kurt Campbell, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said that the international community is united in its strong determination to discourage any further provocations. Campbell said that the U.S. and its allies Japan and South Korea see eye-to-eye on this issue, calling the launch a provocative action that threatens international security, regardless of its failure.

In Japan, the government announced on Monday that investigations would begin over why it delayed delivering a response to the launch on Friday night. Tokyo apparently waited more than 40 minutes before announcing that the North Korean launch had occurred, even though it had received information of the launch earlier.

Yonhap, a major news agency in South Korea, reported that the North's launch had been attended by Iran's Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, the subject of various international sanctions. Attendance of North Korea's rocket launch by the Iranian group strengthens the belief of proliferation analysts that the two countries are working together on exchanging ballistic missile and nuclear technologies.

Russia and China both called for restraint from neighboring countries before North Korea's launch. Statements from the Russian foreign minister opposed sanctions on Friday, but both Russia and China would have needed to vote together with other security council members on Monday to impose new restrictions on trade with the North.

Although Kim Jong-un has promised to allow North Koreans to fully enjoy the glory and wealth of socialism, the country remains heavily impoverished. Analysts and North Korea observers believe that the country increasingly relies on its far more prosperous neighbor China for food and economic assistance.

Chinese news media has dedicated coverage to North Korea's massive celebrations and military parade as well as foreign responses, but also announced further openings in North Korea to Chinese tourists. Although North Korea's relations with South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. are more estranged than ever, its links with China remain strong and may even be expanding.

Indeed, the Xinhua news agency of China announced on Monday that at the end of April, North Korea would open its Mount Chilbo resort to Chinese tourists for multiple day and night stays at 1900 yuan a person, or roughly $300 each.