In a state TV broadcast, a
North Korean presenter said the "epochal" launch was personally
ordered by the leader.
North Korean leader Kim
Jong launch a rocket, he was spotted talking to staff member before the rocket
hit the space with a blast.
The newsreader said:
"We will now broadcast the Chosun record video of the successful launch of
the earth satellite Kwangmyongsong-4 under the leadership of our respected
leader Kim Jong-Un."
The country claimed the
launch was a "complete success" and the satellite was making a polar
orbit of Earth every 94 minutes.
Pictures of debris with the
appearance of a nose cone have been released by South Korea's Defence Ministry,
which said the object was retrieved from its territorial waters, off the island
of Jeju.
A South Korean official
said the rocket appeared to be more powerful than North Korea's Unha-3 rocket,
launched in December 2012, with an increased range of 12,000km (7,500 miles)
which, they said, puts most of the US within reach.
The source told AFP the
three-stage rocket was confirmed to have put an object into orbit but experts
had not yet verified whether the alleged satellite was functioning.
A graphic released by South
Korea suggested the latest launch would have reached an altitude of more than
400km (250 miles) and travelled a distance of 2,380km (1,487 miles).
An object has to reach a
height of 160km (99 miles) in order to stay in orbit.
There had been fears that
Sunday's rocket launch was actually a disguised ballistic missile test.
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