By Yi Whan-woo

South Korea and seven other countries have requested the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to take steps to prevent North Korea from test-firing missiles without advanced notification, the government said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Pyongyang violated the United Nation's aviation safety arm's regulations that require members to declare a no-fly zone before test-firing missiles. North Korea is one of the 191 ICAO member countries.

"The eight countries have submitted a joint statement to the president of the ICAO council for a review on North Korea," a ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

The seven others are the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Australia.

"South Korea, the U.S. and Japan usually appealed to the ICAO when North Korea violated the aviation safety rule. It's noteworthy that five other countries are also taking part this time," the official said.

Pyongyang has carried out 14 launches so far this year, including ballistic missiles tests.

It test-fired two ballistic missiles, believed to be Scuds, into the East Sea from north of Gaeseong, Sunday. It also launched two ballistic missiles into the East Sea, on July 9 and June 29, respectively. Pyongyang didn't declare its launches in advance as required.

In April, the ICAO asked North Korea to give prior notice on any activities that could threaten the safety of civilian flights in response to the North's test-firing of Scuds in March.

South Korea and the U.S. have been separately preparing requests for the U.N. Security Council's sanctions committee against North Korea to review possible violations of U.N. Resolutions that ban the use of ballistic missiles by Pyongyang.

The U.N. Security Council's resolutions ―1718, 1874, 2087 and 2094 ― all ban North Korea from using nuclear, ballistic missiles and other weapons of mass destruction.

A foreign ministry official said ICAO is expected to take steps against the missile launching in compliance with the request from the eight member countries.