North Korea launched a satellite into space Sunday, its state media reported, triggering a wave of international condemnation and prompting the United States, South Korea and Japan to call for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
Though North Korea said the launch was for scientific and "peaceful purposes," it is being widely viewed by other nations as a front to test a ballistic missile, especially coming on the heels of North Korea's purported hydrogen bomb test last month.
Pyongyang carried out both acts in defiance of international sanctions.
An emergency Security Council meeting will be convened Sunday at 11 a.m. in New York to discuss a potential international response.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the launch is "deeply deplorable" and in violation of Security Council resolutions "despite the united plea of the international community against such an act."