(LEAD) U.N. Security Council holds emergency meeting to discuss N.K. launch

(ATTN: UPDATES with press statement)

NEW YORK, Feb. 7 (Yonhap) -- The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned North Korea's long-range rocket launch Sunday after holding an emergency meeting to discuss how to respond to Pyongyang's provocation just one month after its fourth nuclear test.

"The members of the Security Council strongly condemn this launch," Venezuelan U.N. Ambassador Rafael Dario Ramirez Carreno, the council's president, told reporters after the closed-door meeting.

"The members of the Security Council underscore this launch as well as any other DPRK launch that use ballistic missile technology even if characterized as a satellite launch or a space launch vehicle contribute to the DPRK's nuclear weapon delivery system and is a serious violation of the Security Council resolutions," he said.

The council will adopt a new resolution on the North, he said.

The meeting was convened less than a day after the North defied international warnings and carried out the rocket launch in violation of U.N. resolutions. Right after the launch, South Korea, the United States and Japan jointly requested an emergency council meeting.

The launch came as the U.N. Security Council has been struggling in negotiations to put together a new resolution imposing sanctions on Pyongyang for the nuclear test because China has been reluctant to impose harsh measures on its communist neighbor.

The rocket launch is expected to help break the deadlock as China would find it difficult to oppose tough measures any longer, analysts said. China's cooperation is key to any sanctions resolution because it's a veto-holding permanent member.

Sunday's launch was successful as the rocket put what Pyongyang claims was a satellite into orbit.

It represented the North's sixth long-range rocket or missile launch since 1998 and once again demonstrated that Pyongyang is making steady progress in its efforts to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

North Korea says its rocket launches are aimed at putting satellites into orbit, claiming it has the right to the peaceful use of space. But Pyongyang is banned from such launches under U.N. Security Council resolutions as it has been accused of using them as a cover for testing intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Experts say long-range rockets and ICBMs are basically the same, differing only in payload.

So far, the Security Council has adopted six resolutions, six presidential statements and two press statements with regard to the North's nuclear and missile program. Of the six resolutions, four included sanctions on the isolated nation.

A new sanctions resolution is expected to be much tougher than the previous ones.
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