Japanese broadcaster NHK says North Korea has launched a missile as threatened with a report the second stage landed in the Pacific Ocean about 1,100 miles from Japan.
North Korea had informed international authorities that it planned to launch a rocket sometime between Saturday and Wednesday to put a satellite into orbit.
But the U.S., South Korea, Japan and others suspect it is a cover for testing a long-range missile for the North, which has nuclear weapons. Leaders from those countries had warned Pyongyang not to proceed with the planned rocket launch. Japanese government sources reported it appeared to be a long-range missile.
Such a test would be a first step toward putting a nuclear warhead on a missile capable of reaching Alaska and beyond.
Liftoff took place at 11:30 a.m. local time Sunday from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean government said. In Washington, the State Department also confirmed the launch.
The rocket flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese broadcaster NHK said, citing its government.
Resisting calls from President Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Hu Jintao of China to call off the launch, North Korea had announced Saturday that preparations were complete to send communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 on a multistage rocket bound for the skies over Japan.
The United Nations Security Council was scrambling to put together a meeting.
Tokyo deployed warships and Patriot missile interceptors off its northern coast to shoot down any debris that the North said might fall over the area.
U.S. and South Korean warships equipped with missile interceptors also plied the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan to monitor the launch.
Russia, meanwhile, scrambled fighter jets to its Far East in case any debris hits its territory, Russian news reports said.
North Korea pushed ahead with the launch despite mounting international pressure to cancel a liftoff Obama warned Friday would be a “provocative” act.
South Korea, the U.S. and Japan said earlier in the week they would take North Korea to the U.N. Security Council for an act they say is banned under a 2006 resolution barring Pyongyang from ballistic activity.
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