UPDATE 2-U.N. Security Council discusses North Korea missile launch
(Recasts with meeting held, Russia says U.S. to draft statement)
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 24 (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council held a closed-door meeting on Wednesday at the request of the United States and Japan to discuss North Korea's latest missile launch.
North Korea fired a submarine-launched missile on Wednesday that flew more than 310 miles (500 km) toward Japan, an indication of improving technological capability for the isolated North Asian country that has conducted a series of missile launches in defiance of U.N. sanctions.
Deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Petr Iliichev said "the Americans promised to circulate a press statement" on the issue but he had not seen a draft yet.
The Security Council was unable to condemn the launch of a missile by North Korea earlier this month that landed near Japan because China wanted the statement to also oppose the planned deployment of a U.S. anti-missile defense system in South Korea.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon found the launch "deeply troubling," and urged North Korea to de-escalate the situation and return to talks on denuclearization, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by G Crosse and Tom Brown)
© Copyright Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of Reuters Ltd.
