Twelve countries including South Korea, the U.S. and Japan have condemned North Korea's missile provocations and called for a united response from the UN Security Council.

Following a council session at UN headquarters in New York on Friday which discussed the missile launches, the 12 countries issued a joint statement before the press.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who read the statement, said the U.S. condemns, in the strongest possible terms, all the recent ballistic missile launches by the North, including the firing of an ICBM and a missile that fell just 57 kilometers from South Korean shores.

She said the launches are in flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolutions and noted the number of launches this year is more than double any previous year.

Greenfield urged the North to return to dialogue and called for the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of its illegal weapons programs, known as CVID.

The 12 countries also include Albania, Ecuador, France, India, Ireland, Malta, Norway, Switzerland and the UK. 

After the council meeting, ten non-permanent UNSC members also issued a joint statement denouncing North Korea's missile launches and demanding that it refrain from further provocative acts.