G8 FMs condemn DPRK's rocket launch

WASHINGTON - The Group of Eight (G8) Foreign Ministers on Thursday condemned the rocket launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), while vowing to pursue "appropriate response" by the United Nations Security Council.

In a statement issued after the end of two-day meetings here, the G8 Foreign Ministers denounced the launch as "a violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1695, 1718 and 1874" and "undermines regional peace and stability."

"We are ready to consider, with others, taking measures responding to all activities of the DPRK that violate UN Security Council Resolutions, and calling for appropriate response by the United Nations Security Council," said the statement.

The ministers urged the DPRK "to abstain from further launches using ballistic missile technology or other actions which aggravate the situation on the Korean Peninsula."

They also called on the DPRK to meet its international commitments including those under the 2005 Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks, and comply with its obligations under all relevant UN Security Council resolutions, in particular by abandoning all its nuclear weapons and its existing nuclear and ballistic missile programs "in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner."

The DPRK should cease its uranium enrichment activities, and take concrete and irreversible steps toward denuclearization, the statement added.

The statement was issued after the DPRK's official KCNA news agency  confirmed that the satellite launched by a rocket on Friday morning local time had failed to enter preset orbit.