By ANTARA,
United Nations : The Security Council adjourned after three hours of closed-door talks on North Korea’s long-range rocket launch with no agreement on how to respond to what Western members called a clear violation of UN resolutions.
“Members of the Security Council agreed to continue consultations on an appropriate action by the council in accordance with its responsibilities given the urgency of the matter,” Mexico’s UN Ambassador Claude Heller, the council chair this month, was quoted by AFP as telling reporters after the meeting.
The United States and Japan, which called for the meeting in response to what they view as Pyongyang’s “provocative act,” said that the launch of a three-stage Taepodong-2 missile, with an estimated range of 4,100 miles (6,700 kilometers) violated Security Council resolution 1718.
That resolution, adopted in 2006 after the North’s missile launches on July 5 and nuclear test on October 9 that year, demanded that Pyongyang refrain from any further nuclear test or another ballistic missile launch.
US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice told reporters that additional consultations would continue both here and in capitals around the world later Sunday and in the coming days, to try to agree “a clear and strong response from the council.”
Diplomats said there was general agreement on expressing concern over the launch and calling on Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks and to respect UN resolutions.
“The fact of the launch was in itself a clear violation of (1718). The use of ballistic missile technology is a clear violation of the resolution which prohibits missile-related activities,” Rice noted.
A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Rice, backed by her British and French colleagues, pressed for a “strong condemnation” of the North Korean action during the consultations.
But Russia, China, Libya, Uganda and Vietnam called for restraint in the council’s reaction so as not to endanger the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear disarmament, the diplomat added.
The six-party talks bring together the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.