UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Monday "strongly condemned" the most recent ballistic missiles launches by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), saying that "these launches are in grave violation of the DPRK international obligations under UN SC resolutions."

The 15-nation UN body was "unanimous" in condemning the DPRK ballistic missiles launches on Feb. 11, 2017 and Oct.19, 2016 while the council met behind closed doors here on Monday afternoon, Boloymyr Yelchenko, the Ukrainian permanent representative to the United Nations, who holds the rotating council presidency for February.

The closed council meeting, which kicked off shortly after 17:00 EST (22:00GMT) on Monday and lasted about 50 minutes, took place at the request of the United States, Japan and South Korea.

"The members of the Security Council deplore all the DPRK ballistic missile activities, including these launches, noting that such activities contribute to the DPRK's development of nuclear weapons delivery systems and increase tension," the council president said while reading a press statement from the most powerful UN body.

"The members of the Security Council further regretted that the DPRK is diverting resources to the pursuit of ballistic missiles while DPRK citizens have great unmet needs," the statement said.