Focus on N.Korea nuclear talks after launch-Russia

UNITED NATIONS/SEOUL (Reuters) - Russia called on Monday for the focus to stay on nuclear talks with North Korea after its weekend rocket launch as the United States pushed for "a very strong response" from a divided U.N. Security Council.

Analysts said Sunday's launch of the rocket, which soared over Japan during its 3,200 km (2,000 mile) flight, effectively was a test of a ballistic missile designed to carry a warhead as far as the U.S. state of Alaska.

The U.S. military and South Korea said no part of the Taepodong-2 rocket entered orbit, despite Pyongyang's claims it carried a satellite now transmitting data and revolutionary music as it circled the Earth.

Analysts said an emboldened North Korea would use the first successful launch of the Taepodong-2 to extract concessions for showing up at future six-party talks on ending its nuclear program. It could also seek to water down obligations it signed onto under previous negotiations.

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- plus Japan were expected to meet from about 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) to explore a possible compromise on a response to the launch.

"It's a stalemate," said one diplomat close to the negotiations. "It's basically a fight over the form -- whether to warn or whether to punish."

The Security Council had held an emergency session on Sunday but the 15 members agreed only to further discussions.

"The core element in this situation is the six-party talks," Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.

"The key thing is to make sure that we do not confine ourselves to an emotional knee-jerk reaction because what we do need is a common strategy and not losing sight of the goal -- and this is the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."

The long-running talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States have been stalled since December.

As regional powers weighed the extent of the new security threat, South Korean and Japanese financial markets shrugged off the rocket launch by the reclusive communist state.

'STRONG LANGUAGE'

Diplomats said China and Russia would probably accept a Security Council warning to Pyongyang urging it to comply with U.N. resolutions and return to the six-party talks but they opposed a binding resolution intended to punish North Korea.

"We want to see a very strong response coming from the Security Council," U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters in Washington.

Another U.S. official, who asked not to be identified, said it was important that, whether in a resolution or a statement, "there is strong language and it's going to be perceived by not only the North but others as being an effective response."

The United States is considering a resolution that would not call for new sanctions against North Korea but would expand existing financial restrictions, diplomats said.

Russia and China have made clear they would veto any attempt at new sanctions against Pyongyang.

Ambassador Zhang Yesui of China, the nearest North Korea has to a major ally, had said any reaction must be "cautious and proportionate."

The United States, Japan and South Korea say the launch violated Security Council resolutions banning the firing of ballistic missiles by Pyongyang, imposed after a nuclear test and other missile exercises in 2006.

Council diplomats said China and Russia were not convinced the launch of what North Korea said was a satellite violated U.N. rules. Three other countries supported this view.

"It's 10 against five," one diplomat told Reuters.

The U.S. military could need days to analyse the launch but preliminary data suggests it was an overall failure despite signs North Korea may have improved its missile capabilities, U.S. defence officials said on condition of anonymity.

"This one probably went a bit better," said a U.S. defence official. "But it was still a failure simply by the fact that it malfunctioned -- something didn't work right."

Jane's Defence Weekly also described the launch as a failure but said the mission could provide valuable data for Pyongyang's satellite and ballistic missile programs.

"With this capability, North Korea is equipped with the infrastructure to play the nuclear game and raise the stakes in the six-way talks," said Kim Tae-woo, a nuclear and weapons expert at the Korea Institute for Defence Analysis.

"As a result, more will have to be given to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear program."

BOOST FOR KIM

Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's biggest daily, quoted government sources as saying the rocket flew 3,200 km (2,000 miles), which would put the U.S. territory of Guam nearly in reach. The newspaper said this was double the range of an earlier version, the Taepodong-1, fired over Japan in 1998.

In the only previous test flight of the Taepodong-2, in July 2006, the rocket blew apart 40 seconds after launch. The rocket is designed to fly an estimated 6,700 km (4,200 miles).

In Japan, the launch has sparked calls to consider a pre-emptive strike capability but such a plan could undermine regional stability and attract only lukewarm voter support.

South Koreans, accustomed to unpredictable behaviour by their far poorer neighbour, were largely unfazed. But in a poll in the Yomiuri newspaper, 88 percent of Japanese said they were uneasy about North Korea's missile development.

Analysts said the launch would bolster the authority of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il after a suspected stroke in August raised doubts about his grip on power in a country that has a "military first" doctrine.

For Washington, a successful satellite launch would have put half the continental United States in North Korean rocket range, arms control experts said.

North Korea is believed to have enough fissile material for several nuclear bombs. But many proliferation experts believe Pyongyang does not have the technology to miniaturize a nuclear device for a warhead.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim and Kim Yeon-hee in Seoul, Isabel Reynolds and Chisa Fujioka in Tokyo and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Writing by Dean Yates and John O'Callaghan; Editing by Vicki Allen)