The UN Security Council has condemned North Korea’s successful rocket launch.

In a statement after closed consultations Wednesday, the Security Council said the launch violated a 2009 resolution banning, “any launch using ballistic missile technology.”

The council said that after the North’s failed launch in April it demanded that Pyongyang halt all launches.

Meantime, Simon Palamar, a researcher with the Centre for International Governance Innovation’s Global Security Program, told 570 News that a condemnation is often, “just a political statement.”

“You don’t really have to back that up with any action … China, for example will say they disapprove of the rocket launch, but whether they do something more substantive, like cut off aid; cut off trade with North Korea, that’s another matter entirely,” said Palamar.

While Palamar said predicting what will come next on the Korean peninsula is “like reading tea leaves,” there will probably be an effort at the U.N. to pass additional sanctions against North Korea.

“Whether or not (passing additional sanctions) is successful is hard to say. It will depend on the flexibility of the Americans and the flexibility of the Chinese,” said Palamar. “The Chinese will accept perhaps some mild sanctions, which will not send a particularly strong message to the North Koreans, but they wont accept particularly strong sanctions. The Americans know that, so I assume they will go into negotiations looking to get a deal, rather than looking to get the toughest deal imaginable.”

Would tougher sanctions change North Korean international behaviour? “I don’t know,” said Palamar. “For the North Koreans, this is another bargaining chip. This is another thing they can bring to the negotiating table, if for example, the six-party talks resumed, and they could say ‘we have these capabilities. If you want us to stop developing them, we need some sort of deal.’ Whether that’s a security deal, food, money, or oil imports. So I don’t anticipate a huge change in Korean behaviour.”

The Canadian government is also weighing in, joining the UN in condemnation of the North Korean rocket launch. John Baird, Foreign Minister accused the North Korean government of ignoring the plight of its people in pursuit of military development.

North Korea insists the launch was a peaceful satellite test. However, Palamar said because space launch vehicles and intercontinental ballistic missiles are in many ways, “fairly indistinguishable from one another,” the North has effectively completed a test of rocketry that could be weaponized. “If you could do one, you could do another.”

Mike.McCulloch@rci.rogers.com