{{The UN Security Council condemned North Korea\u2019s rogue rocket launch on Wednesday and the United States started pressing China to agree punitive action against its ally.}}<\/p>\n
North Korea took a defiant stance against international fury over its launch however and China signalled it was reluctant to take tough new measures.<\/p>\n
The UN Security Council held emergency talks after the North, already under international sanctions for nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, ignored pleas from friends and foes and went ahead with a rocket launch that it said put a satellite into space.<\/p>\n
\u201cMembers of the Security Council condemned this launch, which is a clear violation of Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1874,\u201d said a statement released after the meeting.<\/p>\n
The council highlighted a warning made after a failed launch in April that it could take \u201caction\u201d if there was a new attempt.<\/p>\n
\u201cMembers of the Security Council will continue consultations on an appropriate response,\u201d said the statement.<\/p>\n
The United States said there had to be \u201cconsequences\u201d for the breach of UN resolutions. US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said talks would start straight away on international action.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s UN ambassador Li Baodong resisted harder hitting language in the statement, diplomats at the closed meeting said.<\/p>\n
Li opposed mentioning in the statement that the North had used \u201cballistic missile technology\u201d but eventually gave in after pressure from Rice, the diplomats said.<\/p>\n
He also argued that there was no reason to condemn China, the envoys added.<\/p>\n
In Beijing, the Chinese government responded relatively quickly by expressing \u201cregret\u201d and pressing the country to abide by UN resolutions.<\/p>\n
But in a commentary, state news agency Xinhua also decried \u201cbellicose rhetoric and gestures\u201d and defended North Korea\u2019s right to explore space.<\/p>\n
It called on all sides to avoid \u201cstoking the flames.\u201d<\/p>\n
The United States immediately pressed the need for action against the North when US undersecretary of defence Jim Miller met with Lieutenant General Qi Jianguo, deputy chief of staff of the Chinese army in Washington.<\/p>\n
Miller \u201curged China to work with the United States and the international community to insist that North Korea live up to its commitments,\u201d said a US statement.<\/p>\n
The launch shows that \u201cNorth Korea is determined to pursue its ballistic missile program without regard for it international obligations,\u201d Rice told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cMembers of the council must now work in a concerted fashion to send North Korea a clear message that its violations of UN Security Council resolutions have consequences,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
North Korea fired the rocket just days before its young ruler, Kim Jong-Un, marks 12 months in power.<\/p>\n
North Korea insisted the mission was not a banned inter-continental missile test but carried a scientific satellite into space.<\/p>\n
The satellite went into orbit \u201cas planned,\u201d the North\u2019s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. \u201cPeople\u2019s hearts are racing with excitement,\u201d the state agency added.<\/p>\n
The rocket set alarm bells ringing in Japan and South Korea, which put their militaries on alert.<\/p>\n
Virtually every country has condemned the North. The launch was a \u201cclear violation\u201d of a 2009 UN Security Council resolution which bans North Korea from using ballistic missile technology, according to UN leader Ban Ki-moon.<\/p>\n
Russia labelled Pyongyang\u2019s defiance of UN resolutions \u201cunacceptable\u201d and warned the launch would have a \u201cnegative effect\u201d on regional stability, while the European Union threatened new sanctions.<\/p>\n
Masao Okonogi, a professor of Korean politics at Keio University in Japan, said the launch would thrust North Korea close to the top of the national security agenda for President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n
\u201cPutting a satellite into orbit means that you have technology to get a warhead to a targeted area. Now, North Korea is becoming not only a threat to the neighbouring countries but also a real threat to the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But the North said it would ignore international warnings. \u201cWe will continue to exercise our legitimate right to launch satellites,\u201d said a foreign ministry spokesman.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s leader Kim Jong-Un, who is in his late 20s, was believed to be keen that the launch fall close to the first anniversary of the death of his father and former leader Kim Jong-Il on December 17.<\/p>\n
A previous launch of the same Unha-3 rocket in April ended in embarrassing failure, with the carrier exploding shortly after take-off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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