The launch was "absolutely intolerable," Shinzo Abe told reporters. ( AFP File Photo)
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket and said it was a violation of UN Security resolutions.
The launch was "absolutely intolerable," Abe told reporters as it came despite repeated protests by the international community. He also called it a "clear violation" of UN Security Council resolutions.
The rocket took off at around 9:00 am Pyongyang time (0030 GMT), according to the South Korean defence ministry which was monitoring the launch site.
North Korea had labelled the launch part of a purely scientific space programme, but most of the world viewed it as a disguised ballistic missile test and the nuclear-armed state's latest step towards a weapons delivery system capable of striking the US mainland.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a hastily arranged press conference that the government so far had judged that no part of the rocket had fallen within Japan's territory.