The UN Security Council on Wednesday considered imposing sanctions on North Korea's weapons program after the reclusive state test-fired a series of missiles including a long-range weapon.
Japan, backed by the United States and Britain prepared a resolution demanding that nations withhold all funds, goods and technology that could be used for North Korea's missile program. But Russia said it opposed sanctions and would prefer a statement instead of a resolution as the outcome of the meeting.
Defying international warnings, North Korea launched at least six missiles in the early morning and a seventh some 12 hours later, officials in Japan and South Korea said. North Korea fired 10 missiles, Russia said, but the report from a senior general could not be immediately confirmed.
The long-range Taepodong-2 missile apparently failed 40 seconds into its flight, US officials said. Japanese and South Korean officials said the missiles fell into the sea separating the Korean peninsula from Japan.
The United States warned the communist state against any more provocative acts, and said Washington would take necessary measures to protect itself and its allies.
"The United States strongly condemns these missile launches and North Korea's unwillingness to heed calls for restraint from the international community," White House spokesman Tony Snow said in a statement.
Snow stopped short of threatening to push for UN sanctions. "I'm not going to lay out the options sheet right now," he told reporters. "The key point is to figure out a diplomatic way to get the North Koreans to step back and rejoin the six-party talks."
CAUTIOUS NOTE US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later said it was "incumbent" on North Korea to use the infrastructure of the six-party talks.
The council draft, read to Reuters and subject to changes, condemned the launch and strongly urged North Korea to return to the six-nation talks hosted by China on its nuclear program. China is North Korea's closest ally and Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya struck a cautious note.
"This is the view of the international community, that actions taken should be constructive for maintaining peace in that part of the world," he told reporters.
"If all council members feel that some appropriate action is needed by the council, we will see," Wang said. "But certainly what happened was a regret."
In 1998 when North Korea fired an earlier version of its Taepodong missile over northern Japan into the Pacific Ocean, China at that time opposed any Security Council action and the council issued a statement two weeks after the launch expressing regret. No vote was expected on Wednesday after the meeting behind closed doors that Japan requested.
Ambassador Vitali Churkin told reporters after a council session he favoured a strong council reaction but opposed sanctions and said the 15-member body should consider a presidential statement, a position similar to China's.
South Korea's military stepped up its alert level afte the launch, Yonhap news agency cited a military source as saying.
The two Koreas are technically still at war more than half a century after an inconclusive truce halted the 1950-1953 Korean conflict. Some 30,000 US troops remain in South Korea under a mutual defence treaty.
North Korea, whose government pays close attention to symbolic gestures, chose to launch the missiles as the United States was marking its July 4 Independence Day. The tests rattled currency markets and contributed to a fall in US and European stocks.
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