North Korea rocket launch condemned

(Vatican Radio) North Korea has launched what it said was a rocket carrying a satellite into orbit. But the launch was widely condemned by nations worldwide, including North Korea's own allies. The United Nations secretary general "deplored" what is widely seen as a snub of a UN Security Council ban on nuclear missile testing.

North Korean state television said the rocket put a satellite in orbit.
The channel celebrated that with martial music...


...and dancers reportedly took the street outside a Pyongyang theatre.

But China - a North Korean ally - was unhappy, expressing "regret, given the great concern worldwide," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

South Korea denounced the launch, and so did Japan.

Around the Pacific Ocean, nations are worried about North Korea's likely future ability to deliver a nuclear warhead far beyond its shores.

Reports here in Tokyo say Japan is among nations pressing the UN Security Council to tighten sanctions on North Korea to the level imposed on Iran.

A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council called the launch "a highly provocative act," adding that North Korea is "only further isolating itself." Listen to this report by Alastair Wanklyn, in Tokyo: