An emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council concluded Sunday without an official reaction to North Korea ignoring repeated international warnings and launching a long-range rocket, the council president told reporters.
South Koreans watch broadcast reports in Seoul of a North Korean rocket launch.
"Consultations will go on among members to see what is the appropriate position that the council will take," said Claude Heller, the current head of the council's rotating presidency, and Mexico's U.N. ambassador. When the council would reconvene wasn't clear.
The launch, at about 11:30 a.m. Korean time on Sunday, set off an immediate firestorm of criticism, inflamed tensions in the Far East, and heightened fears over the North Korean regime's potential ability to undermine nuclear non-proliferation efforts.
The North Korean government said the act was a peaceful launch of a satellite, but a U.S. State Department spokesman declared it a "provocative act in violation" of a 2006 Security Council resolution prohibiting North Korea from conducting ballistic missile launches.
"The launch constituted a clear-cut violation" of the resolution, said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. North Korea's action "merits a clear, strong response" and in the U.S. view, that would come in the form of a council resolution, Rice said. 
Watch analysis of Sunday's launch »
Japan's U.N. representative, Yukio Takasu, who requested the emergency meeting, agreed, saying the council's response should be clear and unified.
Still, the U.N. ambassador from China -- a council member and ally of North Korea expected to resist a resolution -- said the formal reaction to the reclusive nation should be "cautious and proportionate."
"We are now in a very sensitive moment," the ambassador said. "All countries concerned should show restraint and refrain from taking action that could lead to increased tension."
The North Korean government claimed the launch put a satellite into orbit. American military sources, however, said the launch was a failure, adding that the rocket's payload cleared Japanese airspace but failed to enter into orbit.
The following is a sampling of reaction to the launch from world leaders before the Security Council meeting:
• U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: "The Secretary-General regrets that, against strong international appeal, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [DPRK] went ahead with its planned launch," said a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a prepared statement.
"Given the volatility in the region, as well as a stalemate in interaction among the concerned parties, such a launch is not conducive to efforts to promote dialogue, regional peace and stability. The Secretary-General urges DPRK to comply with relevant Security Council resolutions, and all countries concerned to focus on ways to build confidence and restore dialogue, including the early resumption of the six-party talks."
• Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura: "We have been urging North Korea to cancel their rocket launch. However, it went ahead with the launch, we regard this as a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution[s] 1695 and 1718. This is very unfortunate, and ... the Japanese government has demanded an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to be convened and we have denounced North Korea's action." Watch Japanese reaction to reports of at launch »
• Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry: "We hope all countries will remain calm and restraint will resolve this in appropriate way." The government referred to the North Korean rocket launch as one that carried a satellite.
• Russia's foreign minister also called for restraint after the launch, the Russian Interfax news agency reported Sunday, saying that Russian officials would examine whether it violated any U.N. Security Council resolutions.
• South Korea's government condemned the launch, calling it a "serious threat" to world peace, the state-sponsored Yonhap news agency reported.
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"We cannot withhold our regrets and disappointment that North Korea has caused such a serious threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the world by firing a long-range rocket when the entire world is joining efforts to overcome the global economic crisis," Lee Dong-kwan, a presidential spokesman said, according to Yonhap.
Earlier Sunday, before the launch, South Korea's national security council called an emergency meeting amid concerns that a North Korean rocket launch was imminent, a presidential spokesperson told CNN on Sunday.
• U.S. President Barack Obama, in Prague, Czech Republic, for a meeting with European Union leaders, criticized the reported launch.
"With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations," Obama said in a statement after the launch.
"We will immediately consult with our allies in the region, including Japan and [South Korea], and members of the U.N. Security Council to bring this matter before the Council," Obama added. "I urge North Korea to abide fully by the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and to refrain from further provocative actions."
• British Foreign Secretary David Miliband: "I strongly condemn North Korea's action in conducting a satellite launch earlier today. Pyongyang [North Korea] continues to pursue a hostile policy towards the rest of the world, it cannot hope to take its rightful place within the international community."
• Joint U.S.-European Council statement released by the White House: "The launch of a missile by North Korea defies U.N. Security Council resolutions and harms peace and stability in northeast Asia.
"We call on North Korea to honor its commitment to abandon all nuclear weapons programs, to abide by recognized norms of international relations, and to work to promote peace and stability in northeast Asia.
"North Korea's development of a ballistic missile capability, regardless of the stated purpose of this launch, is aimed at providing it with the ability to threaten countries near and far with weapons of mass destruction." Watch analysis of what North Korea's motivations may be from the launch »
• The European Union presidency, currently held by the Czech Republic, said in a statement: "The EU strongly condemns the 'experimental communications satellite' launch performed on 5 April 2009 by the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in breach of the UNSC Resolution 1718.
"These actions place additional strains on regional stability at a time when the unresolved nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula requires mutual confidence building. Such actions are also a matter of more general concern due to their global proliferation implications."
"The EU urges the DPRK to comply with the UNSC Resolution 1718 and immediately to suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile programme, and abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner."
North Korea's news agency, Korean Central News Agency, reported Sunday that the launch was applauded by political parties and organizations in various countries -- despite criticism by the U.S. and other nations
A secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union blasted the United States on Tuesday for its "outrageous interference in the internal affairs" of North Korea, the agency reported. Trade organizations in the Czech Republic also hailed the projected launch, KCNA said.
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