Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon criticised North Korea on Sunday for launching a long-range rocket in violation of Security Council resolutions and despite objections from the international community, PTI reported. Ban urged the country to stop its "provocative actions" and comply with international obligations. The rocket, which experts say was a test for banned missile technology, appeared to have been fired from a base in the northwest of the country. It passed over Japan's southern Okinawa islands. North Korea said it had successfully placed a satellite into orbit. The UN has now convened an emergency meeting over the matter.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the launch was “absolutely unacceptable” and a “clear violation” of the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, which ban North Korea from conducting any nuclear or ballistic missile tests. The country had carried out a nuclear bomb test in early January. The United States too condemned the rocket launch, PTI reported. Secretary of State John Kerry said, "This is the second time in just over a month that the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] has chosen to conduct a major provocation, threatening not only the security of the Korean peninsula, but that of the region and the United States as well."

Pyongyang had sent a notification to United Nations agencies on Saturday, moving the launch to between February 7 and 14. Earlier, it had informed UN agencies that it intended to put an earth observation satellite into orbit between February 8 and 25. Although North Korea maintains that its space programme is purely scientific in nature, the United States, South Korea and China believe the rocket launches are part of its efforts to develop an inter-continental ballistic missile that can strike the US.