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The United States: India, Pakistan and North Korea (red) are declared nuclear weapon states and are not NPT signatories "With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations," U.S. President Barack Obama said, speaking on a European tour.
"Had at any moment we determined that this launch posed a threat to the United States of America, we would have taken whatever steps were necessary to ensure the safety and security of the American people," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
U.S. ambassador Susan Rice said the U.S. wants "the most appropriate and strong response we can possibly get" from the U.N. Security Council to North Korea's missile launch. |
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Israel: "Iran and its likes are looking at what the United States and the Western world will do," said Israel's Regional Development Minister Silvan Shalom, calling on the world to take the broadest action possible against Pyongyang.
He said the rocket launch "undermines the world's stability, and action must be taken in order to bring an end to the threat North Korea poses." |
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France: "This is a regime that has placed itself outside international law. There is only one response possible: the union of the international community must punish a regime that doesn't respect any international rules," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said. |
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Russia: "Russia's foreign policy chief called for the display of a balanced approach and caution when discussing this theme at the U.N. Security Council," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. |
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China: "All sides ought to look at the big picture (and) avoid taking actions which may exacerbate the situation further," a Chinese foreign ministry statement said.
"We wish relevant parties to maintain cool-headedness and restraint, appropriately deal with the situation and jointly maintain regional peace and stability," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement posted on the ministry's Web site. |
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United Nations: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the launch was not conducive to peace and stability and called on North Korea to return to six-country talks on ending its nuclear programs. |
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European Union: "We must be concerned and we must all react this morning, because the North Koreans knew they were not supposed to do what they did," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said. |
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South Korea: South Korea put its 680,000-strong military on heightened alert as presidential spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan branded the launch a "reckless" threat to global security. "The government will deal firmly and resolutely with North Korea's provocative act," he said. |
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Japan: Tokyo took no action to shoot it down, as it had warned it might, but it warned Pyongyang of new sanctions. "It is an extremely provocative action. Japan can never overlook it," Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso told reporters. He said Japan would join other nations to take action against North Korea. Tokyo also called for a new U.N. resolution possibly involving sanctions against North Korea. |
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NATO: NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer described North Korea's rocket launch as "highly provocative." "I condemn the launch by North Korea of a multistage rocket," Scheffer said in a statement. "This launch is highly provocative" and violates a U.N. Security Council resolution barring Pyongyang from developing or launching ballistic missiles," he added. |
