North Korea botched rocket launch condemned by US and allies

Washington and its allies have condemned North Korea for launching a satellite rocket which broke up over the sea shortly after take-off.

Accusing the communist state of threatening regional security, the US said it had only isolated itself still further from the outside world.

The UN Security Council is to hold talks shortly in New York.

In an unusual step, the North admitted the launch had failed but its planned celebrations in Pyongyang went ahead.

The official reason for the launch had been to put a satellite into orbit in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the state's founder, Kim Il-sung.

Kim Jong-un, his grandson, led tens of thousands of people in lavish celebrations in central Pyongyang at which giant statues were unveiled to both his grandfather and his late father, Kim Jong-il.

Many saw the launch as an illegal test of long-range missile technology.

The failure of this launch is embarrassing for the North Korean regime. It had been billed as a sign of the North's technical achievement.

But the news that it had failed was only given at midday local time. For four hours after the launch, there was no word at all. The international journalists assembled in the press centre were told nothing. Then state media said rocket scientists and technicians were looking into why it failed to reach orbit.

In previous days, we had been taken to see the launch pad on the West Sea site. North Korea wanted to insist this was just a satellite launch and not a test of missile technology as others had feared. It wanted to show us its mastery of technology.

As well as being an embarrassment for North Korea's leaders, it has also drawn international condemnation. And there is more condemnation to come in the hours ahead.

North Korea fired the Unha-3 rocket around 07:40 local time (22:40 GMT Thursday) from a site in Cholsan County on the western coast, according to South Korean and US monitors.

It disintegrated after a minute or two, falling into waters 165km (105 miles) west of the South Korean capital, Seoul, the monitors said.

"North Korea is only further isolating itself by engaging in provocative acts, and is wasting its money on weapons and propaganda displays while the North Korean people go hungry," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

He said the launch both violated international law and contravened North Korea's own recent commitments, under which it had agreed to suspend its nuclear and missile tests in return for American food aid.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan accused the North of a "clear breach of the UN resolution that prohibits any launch using ballistic missile technology".

In Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said the launch had been a "grave provocation" and a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

China and Russia, North Korea's closest allies, called for a resumption of the stalled multi-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme.

"We are convinced that the reaction to these challenges needs to be exclusively diplomatic and political," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow after meeting his Chinese and Indian counterparts.

Space is hard - it's a truism and we've just seen further evidence of it”

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, speaking alongside Mr Lavrov, said Beijing was disappointed with Pyongyang's decision to proceed with the launch.

He expressed hope that all sides would "promote mutual understanding through joint efforts and promote the six-party process."

Both Russia and China can veto any sanctions proposed at the UN Security Council.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon described the North Korean launch as "deplorable".

It "defies the firm and unanimous stance of the international community", he said in a statement, while urging North Korea "not to undertake any further provocative action that will heighten tension in the region".

Confirming the rocket failure, North Korea's state news agency KCNA said briefly: "The Earth observation satellite failed to enter its pre-set orbit.

Pyongyang's technocrats and doves may finally seize their chance and see off the militarists”

"Scientists, technicians and experts are now looking into the cause of the failure."

In Pyongyang, events to cement Kim Jong-un's hold on power after the death of his father in December continued on Friday with a special session of the supreme people's assembly (parliament).

The assembly appointed Mr Kim, 29, as "first chairman" of the country's top decision-making body, the National Defence Commission.

At the same time, his late father was made the commission's "eternal chairman".

Tens of thousands of people gathered outside the Museum of Revolutionary Struggle on Mansu Hill to see the statues being unveiled.

"All party members and troops should hold the respected comrade Kim Jong-Un in high esteem... and protect him with our lives under any circumstances," North Korea's ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam, told the crowd.

The monuments to the former leaders replace a single statue of Kim Il-sung which previously occupied the site.