North Korea has warned it will take "strong steps" if the United Nations Security Council takes any action in response to its long-range rocket launch.
Pyongyang's deputy UN ambassador Pak Tok Hun said: "If the Security Council take any kind of steps whatever, we'll consider this an encroachment on our sovereignty and the next option will be ours. Necessary and strong steps will ... follow that."
North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile on Sunday in violation of a 2006 UN Security Council resolution banning the firing of such missiles by Pyongyang. The resolution was passed after a nuclear test by North Korea.
In a rare appearance before reporters at UN headquarters, Mr Pak said criticism of the launch was undemocratic and any country was entitled to use outer space peacefully.
"It's not fair. It's not fair," he said. "While they themselves launch more than a hundred times the satellites... we are not allowed to do that. That is not democratic."
The Security Council held a three-hour emergency meeting on Sunday but took no action apart from agreeing to return to the issue.
Russia and China, with the support of three other council members, made clear that they opposed US and Japanese demands for a resolution punishing North Korea.
The five permanent members of the Security Council - the Britain, France, China, the US and Russia - plus Japan met at UN headquarters on Monday to explore a possible compromise.
But Japan and the three Western powers failed to persuade Russia and China that strong condemnation was needed.
Russian deputy UN ambassador Konstantin Dolgov said he hoped the six could agree on a response that could be put to the full council for unanimous approval.
One diplomat close to the talks on Monday described the situation as a "stalemate", while another said the talks were still deadlocked.
As permanent council members, China and Russia have veto powers and have made clear they would be prepared to use them to stop new sanctions on Pyongyang.
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