Monty Python may have put it a little differently: "Give them the comfy chair!"

The apparent agreement came after envoys from permanent members the US, France, China, Russia and UK - plus Japan - held two-hour talks in New York.

US Ambassador Susan Rice said that the presidential statement would send a "clear message" to North Korea.

The council "condemns the 5 April 2009 launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which is in contravention of Security Council resolution 1718", the draft says.

The resolution, passed in 2006, bans North Korea from conducting ballistic missile or nuclear tests.

The statement urges North Korea to refrain from further launches and calls on the UN sanctions committee to better enforce existing sanctions against the communist country.

The draft represents a compromise, analysts say.

Rice is correct. It does indeed send a "clear message" to Kim: "Go ahead and launch another one and we will respond with equal weakness."

Ed Morrissey channels Team America:

We laughed in Team America when Hans Blix threatened Kim Jong-Il with a strongly-worded memo, but who knew then that life would not just imitate satire, but satirize satire? Susan Rice tried to spin an agreement with the UN Security Council to kinda-sorta-maybe condemn North Korea’s launch of a Taepodong-2 missile eight days after Kim shot it over Japan as a show of strength, but not even the BBC is buying that line:

No doubt, Kim is shaking in his pajamas after reading that statement.

Hat Tip: Ed Lasky