UN Security Council condemns North Korea rocket launch

The United Nations Security Council tonight condemned North Korea’s recent rocket launch and announced it was expanding sanctions against the reclusive communist nation.

The Council’s statement makes clear that the April 5 launch violated a 2006 resolution which bans any missile tests by the country. The statement demands an end to further launches.

All 15 members of the Security Council agreed on the text and the statement was read out at a formal meeting of the UN’s most powerful body by the current council president, Mexico’s UN Ambassador Claude Heller.

The presidential statement was a weaker response than a Security Council resolution which Japan and the United States wanted – but which the North’s closest allies, China and Russia, opposed.