WASHINGTON/NEW YORK/SEOUL (Yonhap) -- The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a statement Monday "strongly condemning" North Korea for its long-range rocket launch last week amid growing worries that the defiant communist regime will carry out another nuclear test.

In a presidential statement, the 15-member council made it clear that the launch, albeit unsuccessful, was a "serious violation" of resolutions 1718 and 1874, which ban Pyongyang from any launch using ballistic missile technology.

"The Security Council deplores that such a launch has caused grave security concerns in the region," read the document, which is not legally binding.

The council also called for an annual update of lists of North Korean entities and items subject to U.N. sanctions.
The statement "calls on all member states to strictly enforce sanctions on Pyongyang in accordance with the existing re
solutions."

"The Security Council expresses its determination to take action accordingly in the event of a further DPRK launch or nuclear test," it added. DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The U.N. produced such a relatively quick consensus in responding to the North's latest provocation, as the U.S. and its allies did not seek a fresh resolution, apparently to avoid a dispute with China and Russia.

When the North fired a multistage rocket in 2009, it took eight days for the council to issue a chairman's statement "condemning" the act. This time, a document with stronger wording was adopted in just three days.

But the international community has few other realistic ways to turn the screws on the North.

The effects of economic sanctions on Pyongyang will remain limited as long as Beijing continues to provide assistance to its neighboring ally despite its verbal criticism of the rocket launch.

"We've got very strong sanctions in place against North Korea, clearly," Mark Toner, deputy spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said at a press briefing. "We're looking at ways to strengthen our sanctions regime, whether it's bilateral or multilateral through the U.N., especially in light of North Korea's actions."

South Korean officials welcomed the U.N. Security Council's reaction.

"The statement by the president of the Security Council is more than just symbolic," an official told reporters, adding such a document can serve as a basis for stronger U.N. actions in the future. He asked not to be named. "Also true, however, is that there are few diplomatic ways to put pressure on already-isolated North Korea in comparison with Syria and Iran."

In Seoul, Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae said in a statement that South Korea took note of the Council's strong condemnation against the North's rocket launch.

"North Korea must clearly understand the firm and unified stance by the international community against the launch and cease acts of provocation that threaten the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia," Cho said.

The members of the council appear to have chosen the quick adoption of a statement, he added, with the likelihood of the North's nuclear test in mind.

Pyongyang's long-range rocket launches were followed by nuclear experiments both in 2006 and 2009.

Should the North conduct a third nuclear test, it would herald a tougher process for the U.N. to hammer out a response.

The official cited a "game change" in dealing with the North, as South Korea and the U.S. are talking up the need to address such fundamental issues as the livelihood and human rights of the North Korean people.