UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States and its European allies called Wednesday for the U.N. Security Council to deliver a strong reaction to North Korea's successful rocket launch.

But whether China, North Korea's closest ally, will agree to new sanctions remained unclear.

The British, French and German ambassadors told reporters as they headed into closed Security Council consultations on North Korea that the successful effort Wednesday to put a satellite in space was a clear violation of a U.N. resolution, adopted after Pyongyang's second nuclear test in 2009, that bans "any launch using ballistic missile technology."