UNSC MEETING ON N. KOREA'S MISSILE LAUNCH

[Anchor Lead]

The United Nation's Security Council met to discuss international responses to North Korea's intermediate-range ballistic missile on October 4th. Many council members denounced the missile firing but failed to produce a statement due to opposition from China and Russia.

[Pkg]

The United Nation's Security Council met to discuss additional responses following North Korea's latest sanction violation. The United States argued that the Security Council's half-hearted response is encouraging North Korea's repeated provocations and criticized permanent member nations China and Russia for refusing to take concrete actions.

[Soundbite] Linda Thomas-Greenfield(U.S. Ambassador to the UN) : "These two members have gone out of their way to justify the DPRK is repeated provocations. And block every attempt to update the sanctions regime."

In fact, a draft of a press statement that denounced DPRK was circulated at the Security Council meeting and several member nations that spoke up publicly agreed to announce the statement. Although not a permanent Security Council member, South Korea and Japan also addressed other nations as involved countries in the interest of regional security and urged that the UN Security Council take action. But China and Russia opposed the adoption of a statement of condemnation as well as additional sanctions. These two countries saw North Korea's provocation as a response to the buildup of military threat in Northeast Asia prompted by South Korea, the United States and Japan.

[Soundbite] Anna Evstigneeva(Deputy Russian Ambassador to the UN) : "Security Council cannot act such as stance, together with an increase by the United States and other allies are measures of military nature risks creating further tensions on the peninsula."

The Security Council failed to produce any statement of condemnation and nine member nations, including the U.S., reiterated their denouncement of North Korea at a separate press conference.