Eight nations urge ICAO's action against NK missile launch

SEOUL, July 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and seven other countries have called on the United Nations aviation safety agency to take action against North Korea's failure to announce its recent missile launches in advance, sources here said Wednesday.

North Korea has recently stepped up a series of provocations by firing off short-range ballistic Scud missiles into the waters off its east coast without giving prior notice to members of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) ahead of its missile launches.

South Korea, the U.S., Japan and others have sent a letter to ICAO, saying that North Korea has reneged on its obligations that members of ICAO should give notice of planned missile launches in advance for safety of civilian flights, the sources said.

The countries called on the U.N. agency to take proper action against the North, they added.

ICAO, established in 1944, is a specialized agency of the United Nations and the world's highest authority in aviation. South Korea joined ICAO in 1952. Currently, the Montreal-based agency has a total of 191 member states including North Korea.

In a separate move, Seoul and Washington plan to take the issue of the North's recent rocket launches to the U.N. Security Council's North Korean Sanctions Committee, believing that the North has violated terms of its sanctions with its recent launches.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr

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