Five permanent UNSC members agree on statement condemning North Korea rocket launch

New York, April 12 (ANI): The U.N. Security Council's five permanent members and Japan reached an agreement on a statement condemning North Korea's rocket launch, and reviving a two-and-a-half year old threat of financial and travel sanctions against individuals and entities linked to Pyongyang's missile programme.

The pact set the stage for a likely agreement as early as Monday by the 15-nation council on a statement that would also demand that North Korea not conduct any additional missile tests.

It ended a diplomatic standoff between the US and China, which blocked an American-backed effort to rally international criticism of North Korea, formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, The Washington Post reported.

Saturday's accord came less than a week after President Barck Obama called on the Security Council to punish North Korea for launching the rocket in violation of UN resolutions banning Pyongyang's use of ballistic missile technology.

It came less than 48 hours after US and Chinese diplomats brokered a compromise text that registered displeasure over North Korea's launch while encouraging it to agree to the early resumption of six-nation talks aimed at "achieving the verifiable denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula.

Those talks broke down in December over a dispute between the United States and North Korea over an American plan to verify the dismantlement of Pyongyang's nuclear program.

"We think this is very strong and sends a clear message to the DPRK that their violation of international law will not be treated with impunity and will indeed have consequences," US Ambassador Susan E. Rice told reporters.

Saturday's draft calls for reactivating the UN sanctions committee to produce by April 24 a new list of individuals and companies subject to sanctions.

If the committee -- which includes all 15 council members and makes decisions by consensus -- cannot agree on a list, the matter will be taken up in a formal session of the Security Council on April 30. (ANI)