The UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday to discuss North Korea's recent launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile(ICBM) once again failed to produce a concrete outcome.

In the meeting convened at the UN headquarters in New York at the request of the U.S. in response to Monday’s ICBM test-firing, U.S. deputy envoy to the UN Robert Wood condemned in the strongest terms the firing as well as the earlier short-range ballistic missile launch.

The U.S. ambassador described the North’s continued threats to international peace and security as “ridiculous,” while also applying the descriptor to any assertion that the pair of launches at the start of the week are remotely justifiable or appropriate.

The meeting, however, was widely expected to end in a stalemate without a denunciation or resolution in the face of opposition from Pyongyang’s allies, permanent UNSC members Russia and China.

Meanwhile, ahead of the Council meeting, ten countries including South Korea, the U.S., Japan and Britain issued a joint statement most strongly condemning the North’s ICBM launch and other past ballistic missile provocations.