Media: North Korea fires multiple rockets from near capital Says South Korea

On June 19, North Korea launched more than ten rockets morning from the Sunan area near Pyongyang, firing them in a north-westerly direction, according to South Korea’s military.

Seoul did not immediately release further details on the launch, but the projectiles are believed to be short-range ballistic missiles — a type of weapon frequently tested by Pyongyang and typically classified as such by South Korean authorities, Caliber.Az reports per Reuters. 

Under United Nations Security Council resolutions, North Korea is prohibited from conducting any ballistic missile activity, including tests, regardless of the missile's range.

According to South Korean and UN sources, North Korea has conducted over 100 missile tests since 2022, many of which violate UN Security Council resolutions that ban all ballistic missile activity.

Pyongyang claims its launches are defensive, while Seoul and Washington remain on heightened alert.

Since 2006, the United Nations Security Council has adopted nine key sanctions resolutions in response to North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Each resolution condemns Pyongyang’s actions and demands an immediate halt to its prohibited activities, which breach previous UN measures.

All nine resolutions were passed unanimously; eight of them invoke Chapter VII, Article 41 of the UN Charter, enabling enforcement without the use of force.

The sanctions empower UN member states to inspect, seize and dispose of illicit North Korean cargo on their territory. The resolutions also urge North Korea to return to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which it left in 2003 following U.S. accusations of a covert uranium enrichment programme.

Additionally, the Security Council calls for Pyongyang’s return to the Six-Party Talks — involving China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the U.S., and North Korea — which were held between 2003 and 2009.

Those talks produced a joint pledge on denuclearisation, during which North Korea temporarily dismantled its main plutonium reactor, later brought back into operation.

By Aghakazim Guliyev