SEOUL - SOUTH Korea on Monday welcomed the UN's condemnation of North Korea's latest missile salvo, as a US official headed for China to try to tighten financial sanctions against the communist North.

The Security Council described Saturday's launches as a violation of UN resolutions and a threat to regional and international security.

The North test-fired seven ballistic missiles in an act of defiance apparently timed for the US Independence Day holiday, its biggest salvo of ballistic weaponry since Independence Day in 2006.

The launches came as Washington pushes for tough enforcement of UN sanctions passed after the North's May 25 nuclear test, which aim to shut down its nuclear and missile programmes.

In its latest action on Monday the council 'condemned and expressed grave concern' over the launches, issuing a relatively mild and non-binding statement.

But Japan, which had requested the meeting, welcomed the statement. Japan's cabinet was expected on Tuesday to send to parliament a bill allowing the coast guard to inspect North Korean ships for nuclear and missile-related materials, in line with the UN resolution.

The US Treasury, in a statement on its website, said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey would leave on Monday for China and Hong Kong to pursue 'efforts to prevent North Korea from advancing its nuclear and missile programmes'.

It said he would hold talks with senior officials and private executives from Wednesday to Friday on preventing the North from misusing the international financial system 'to buy and sell dangerous technology' and engage in other illicit activities.

And he played a key role in a 2005 blacklist of Macau's Banco Delta Asia, which effectively froze US$25 million (S$36 million) in North Korean assets there and prompted other foreign banks to suspend transactions with Pyongyang.

Another US delegation met last Thursday with Chinese officials for talks on implementing the sanctions. The team led by Philip Goldberg - the State Department's point man on coordinating implementation of the sanctions - later flew on to Malaysia. -- AFP