The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Sunday in New York over North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket, diplomats said.The closed-door talks were requested by South Korea as well as council members Japan and the United States, which have both denounced the launch as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.They will begin at 11:00 am (1600 GMT).Tokyo and Washington called the consultations over the launch of a "so-called 'satellite' by North Korea in violati

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon denounced Saturday North Korea's "provocative actions" in launching a long-range rocket, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.Ban "reaffirms his commitment to working with all sides in reducing tensions and achieving the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," a statement read. (AFP)

The Latest on North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket (all times local):12:40 p.m. In a special announcement read on state-run North Korean TV, the announcer says the country has put a satellite into orbit on a successful rocket launch.The announcer says North Korea will launch more satellites. The North's special announcement says the launch was ordered by leader Kim Jong Un. 12:05 p.m. Republican presidential candidates in the U.S. are speaking up about North Korea's rocket launch on Sunda

North Korea seems to have succeeded in putting what its claims to be a satellite into orbit, a military official said Sunday."It's presumed that the projectile has entered into orbit," the official said, indicating that the North's long-range rocket launch might be successful.He added, however, additional analysis is needed to confirm whether it is normally operating in orbit.Earlier in the day, the North fired the rocket from its northwest Dongchang-ri launch site in defiance of United Nations

The U.S. Strategic Command said Saturday it detected North Korea's missile launch at 9:29 a.m. Korean time. "U.S. Strategic Command systems detected and tracked what we assess was a North Korean missile launch into space at 6:29 p.m.CST (central standard time)," the command said in a statement. "The missile was tracked on a southerly launch over the Yellow Sea."The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) "determined that at no time was the missile a threat to North America," the stateme

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Sunday urged a tough UN response to North Korea's long-range rocket launch that came barely a month after its fourth nuclear test."The UN Security Council should take strong punitive measures quickly," Park said in televised address following the morning launch.(AFP)

China's official Xinhua News Agency urged "all relevant parties" to exercise "restraint" on Sunday as North Korea launched a long-range rocket in defiance of U.N. resolutions amid international condemnations over its latest nuclear test. There was no immediate reaction from China's foreign ministry about the North's rocket launch, but commentary by the Chinese news agency said, "The launch marks a negative development of the situation on the Korean Peninsula." "Sanctions are definitely not the a

Park says North Korea has committed unacceptable provocation, adding, South Korea, US should take all necessary measures responding to N. Korea's missile launch.North Korea said Sunday it will make a special announcement at midday (Pyongyang Time) following its launch of a long-range rocket earlier in the day.North Korea said it will deliver a "special and important" announcement at noon, North Korea's state-run radio and TV stations reported without elaborating.Earlier in the day, the North lau

The United States on Saturday denounced North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket as "destabilizing and provocative."The unpredictable hermit state made good on its threat to launch a satellite-bearing rocket, an operation widely seen as a covert ballistic missile test despite Pyongyang's insistence that it is part of a purely scientific program.A US defense official said the launch vehicle "appears to have reached space."Pyongyang had already detonated what it claimed was a powerful thermonuc

The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Sunday in New York over North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket, diplomats said.The closed-door talks were requested by South Korea as well as council members Japan and the United States, which have both denounced the launch as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.(AFP)

The White House condemned North Korea's long-range rocket launch as a "flagrant violation" of U.N.Security Council resolutions, reaffirming its commitment to the defense of its allies and calling for serious consequences to the communist nation."North Korea's launch using ballistic missile technology, following so closely after its Jan. 6 nuclear test, represents yet another destabilizing and provocative action and is a flagrant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions,"

The following is a chronology of major events leading to North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket on Sunday.-- August 31, 1998: North Korea fires its first ballistic missile, the Unha-1 rocket, also known as the Taepodong-1 missile, from the launch site of Musudan-ri in North Hamgyong Province.-- July 4, 2006: North Korea fires the more advanced Taepodong-2 missile at the Musudan-ri launch site.-- April 5, 2009: North Korea launches the Unha-2 rocket at the Musudan-ri launch site with the att