North Korea draws world's scorn for tests
Wednesday, July 05, 2006

North Korea test-fired a seventh missile Wednesday, intensifying the furor that began when the reclusive regime defied international protests by launching a long-range missile and at least five shorter-range rockets earlier in the day.

The missiles, all of which apparently fell harmlessly into the Sea of Japan, provoked international condemnation, the convening of an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council and calls in Tokyo for economic sanctions against the impoverished communist regime.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said heading into the Security Council meeting that it must send a "strong and unanimous signal" that North Korea's missile test was unacceptable. Diplomats were to discuss a draft Japanese resolution that would likely condemn the launches.

North Korea has remained defiant, with one official arguing it had the right to such launches. The tests and the impenitent North Korean attitude raised fears that further firings could follow. story