North Korea has launched its ballistic rocket carrying a weather satellite.
The launch has drawn international criticism due to concerns it could further the reclusive state's ability to deliver a nuclear warhead.
The launch took place at 7.39am local time.
Earlier, North Korea's neighbours and the West had said that the launch was a disguised ballistic missile test. Regional powers also fear it could be the prelude to another nuclear test.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told a news conference earlier today in Geneva that the threatened launch of a so-called "application satellite" atop a ballistic missile would worsen relations with North Korea's neighbours.
In New York, China's Ambassador to the UN, Li Baodong, told reporters: "We have got to do everything possible to defuse tension rather than inflame the situation there. So I think we should do everything possible to make sure that peace and stability is maintained."
The launch took a three-stage rocket over a sea separating the Korean peninsula from China before releasing a satellite into orbit when the third stage fired over waters near the Philippines.
