United Nations Security Council
United Nations Security CouncilReuters

The UN Security Council on Thursday strongly condemned North Korea’s recent missile and ballistic missile engine tests, denouncing the country’s "increasingly destabilizing behavior", AFP reports.

North Korea this week tested a powerful new rocket engine, hailed by its leader Kim Jong-Un as a "new birth" for the nation's rocket industry.

Earlier this month, North Korea fired four ballistic missiles into the sea off Japan's northwest coast.

"The launch and engine test are in grave violation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's international obligations," the Security Council said in a statement Thursday.

"The members of the Security Council expressed serious concern over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's increasingly destabilizing behavior and flagrant and provocative defiance of the Security Council," it added.

The statement said the Council members "emphasized the vital importance of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea showing sincere commitment to denuclearization and stressed the importance of working to reduce tensions in the Korean Peninsula and beyond."

Reports this week said the Trump administration was considering imposing sanctions aimed at cutting North Korea off from the global financial system.

However, sanctions and repeated condemnations from the Security Council have not deterred North Korea from carrying out nuclear and ballistic missile tests.