UN Security Council splits, again, over North Korea missiles

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER
Associated Press

Debate over how to handle a North Korean ballistic missile launch over Japanese territory has again split an already deeply fractured U.N. Security Council. Wednesday’s emergency session on the North Korean launches ended with no consensus on any action by the Security Council. Russia and China insisted to fellow Security Council members that U.S.-led military exercises in the region had provoked North Korea into acting. Tuesday’s ballistic missile launch by North Korea was its longest range weapons test ever, and triggered evacuation alerts in Japan. A growing divide between Russia and China and other permanent Security Council members in recent months has blocked Security Council action on the launches.