Japan PM Shinzo Abe calls North Korean launch 'absolutely intolerable'

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned North Korea's launch Sunday 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.