After days of closed-door haggling, the U.N. Security Council is hoping to adopt a statement on Monday condemning North Korea's botched rocket launch and suggesting an expansion of a U.N. blacklist of North Korean firms and individuals, envoys said.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said on Friday the members of the 15-nation Security Council "deplored" North Korea's failed bid to launch a long-range rocket, but that the council would continue talks on a formal condemnation of the actions of the hermit state.

Diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity that China, North Korea's closest ally, was pushing for a softer rebuke than the one favored by the United States, which holds this month's Security Council presidency.

"Unless China raises objections overnight, we'll adopt a presidential Statement on DPRK (North Korea) tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. (1400 GMT)," a Western diplomat told Reuters.

Unlike resolutions, council statements are not voted on but are adopted unanimously.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, has also deplored the rocket launch.

Diplomats said no council member had pushed the idea of imposing new sanctions on Pyongyang in retaliation for the launch, something China and Russia would have opposed.

However, they said the draft statement does urge the Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee to consider adding new names to an existing U.N. blacklist of firms and individuals linked to Pyongyang's nuclear and missile industries.