Sri Lanka condemns North Korea’s missile launch

The Sri Lankan Government has condemned the launch of a long range missile carried out by North Korea on Sunday (07).

“Sri Lanka calls upon the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to abide by its international obligations and desist from any action that would adversely impact on the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

North Korea said it had successfully put a satellite into orbit, with a rocket launch widely condemned as a ballistic missile test for a weapons delivery system to strike the US mainland. 

Pyongyang announced it had successfully launched the earth observation satellite Kwangmyongsong-4 into orbit. 

North Korea fired the rocket Sunday despite warnings from a number of countries who claimed the satellite launch was a front for a long-range missile test. North Korea maintains the launch is for scientific and “peaceful purposes.”

Sunday’s rocket launch triggered a wave of international condemnation and prompted strong reaction from an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.