UNSC to hold emergency meet over North Korea's rocket launch

London, Apr 5 (ANI): The UN Security Council is to hold an emergency meeting after North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative long-range missile rocket launch on Sunday that passed over Japan.Both the US State Department and the Japanese Government have issued stark statements condemning the blast-off.

Japan said the launch was "regrettable" and the US called it "provocative" and said appropriate steps would be taken.

"We have had a launch. I don't know the type of missile," SKY News quoted US State Department spokesman Fred Lash, as saying.

Japanese broadcaster NHK said there were no reports of any debris falling on Japan. It appears that wreckage from the rocket fell in the Pacific Ocean.

International pressure had mounted in recent days to halt the launch at Musudan-ri on the north-east coast.

North Korea had said its intentions were peaceful and it was launching an "experimental communications satellite."

But the US and North Korea's neighbours believe it is a cover for testing the regime's long-range missile technology in defiance of UN resolutions.

Before the blast-off, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il appeared to make a rare public appearance, when he visited a theatre in Pyongyang.

US President Barack Obama had warned that the international community would take action if North Korea went ahead with the launch.(ANI)