UN deplores North Korea after launching long-range rocket

The United States has warned of “serious consequences” after North Korea launched a long-rang rocket on Sunday morning, in defiance of international sanctions banning it from using ballistic missile technology and doubling down against an international community already determined to punish Pyongyang for a nuclear test last month.

State media said on Sunday the mission to put a Earth observation satellite into orbit was a “complete success” as the country vowed to continue launching satellites in the future. Pyongyang labelled the launch part of a purely scientific space programme, but most of the world viewed it as a disguised ballistic missile test.

The US and its allies believe the regime uses satellite launches as covert tests of technology that could be used to develop a missile capable of striking the US mainland.

Its pre-orbital flight arc was planned to traverse the Yellow Sea and further south to the Philippine Sea, with both South Korea and Japan threatening to shoot it down if it encroached on their territory.

North Korean state TV said in a special announcement on Sunday lunchtime that the launch, ordered the previous day by the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, had been a “complete success”.

An announcer said the Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite – named after late leader Kim Jong Il – was orbiting Earth every 94 minutes.

The launch demonstrated North Korea’s right to develop a “peaceful and independent” space programme, but the announcer noted that it marked a “breakthrough in boosting our national defence capability”.

Multiple UN Security Council resolutions proscribe North Korea's development of its ballistic missile programme. The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting later on Sunday in New York over the launch, following a request by South Korea, Japan and the US.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the launch "deeply deplorable" and urged North Korea to "halt its provocative actions".

The launch drew immediate condemnation from other countries in the region and from Washington. The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said it was “a flagrant violation of UN security council resolutions” banning Pyongyang from using ballistic missile technology.

Kerry said the United States said it would work with the UN Security Council on "significant measures" to hold North Korea to account for the launch.

Kerry said the launch was “a major provocation, threatening not only the security of the Korean peninsula, but that of the region and the United States as well”. He reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad commitment to the defence of our allies,” including South Korea and Japan.

Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said the launch was “absolutely unacceptable” and a “clear violation” of UN security council resolutions, while the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, described it as “an unforgivable act of provocation”.

China, North Korea’s only major ally, “expressed regret” about the launch. “With regards to the DPRK’s insistence on implementing a launch of missile technology in the face of international opposition, China expresses regret,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.