UN strongly condemns North Korean missile launch after delay

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council has issued a strongly worded condemnation of the latest North Korean missile launch after the U.S. agreed to Russia's request to include a call for "dialogue" with Pyongyang in the text.

The statement agreed Thursday to demands for an immediate end to the North's nuclear and missile tests and threatens to impose new sanctions. It also expresses the council's "utmost concern" about North Korea's "highly destabilizing behavior and flagrant and provocative defiance" of council resolutions.

The U.S. had accused Russia on Wednesday of blocking the council statement by insisting on including a previous call for "dialogue."

But Russia's deputy ambassador Petr Iliichev told reporters Thursday that the U.S. acted in an "abrupt manner" and said Moscow didn't block the statement and was open to discussions.