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Security Council adopts tough tone

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice speaks at a news conference after a U.N. Security Council emergency meeting Tuesday at U.N. headquarters. (Associated Press)

UNITED NATIONS – A united U.N. Security Council strongly condemned North Korea’s nuclear test and pledged further action Tuesday, calling Pyongyang’s latest defiant act “a clear threat to international peace and security.”

All 15 council members, including North Korea’s closest ally China, approved the press statement hours after the latest underground test. The statement called the atomic blast a “grave violation” of three U.N. resolutions that ban North Korea from conducting nuclear or missile tests.

The swift and unanimous response from the U.N.’s most powerful body set the stage for a fourth round of sanctions against Pyongyang.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said a number of new measures to tighten and expand the existing sanctions regime will be discussed with council members and other concerned countries in the coming days. She added in response to a question that financial sanctions would be “right for appropriate further action.”

Associated Press