TOKYO, April 5 — North Korea launched a long-range missile Sunday morning, defying repeated international warnings, worrying its neighbors and setting up the prospect of increased sanctions.

The launch, from a base on the country’s northeast coast, came shortly after 10:30 p.m. Saturday EDT, the U.S. State Department reported.

The three-stage rocket flew over Japan, with its first two booster stages falling harmlessly into the Sea of Japan — also known as the East Sea — and Pacific Ocean, respectively.

North Korea said the “peaceful” launch would put a communications satellite into orbit, and South Korean officials confirmed that the rocket was carrying a satellite. But President Obama called it a “provocative act” with which North Korea has “further isolated itself from the community of nations.”

The apparently successful launch of the Taepodong-2 missile, which can fly as far as the western United States, came on its second test. The first, in 2006, failed after less than a minute. Experts said North Korea has been working on long-range missile development with Iran, which successfully launched a similar missile in February.
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North Korea announced about four hours after the launch that it had succeeded in putting a satellite into orbit. “The satellite is rotating normally in its orbit,” the Korean Central News Agency reported.

But there was no immediate confirmation of that from other governments. North Korea claimed in 1998, when it launched a Taepodong-1 missile, that it had succeeded in putting a satellite into orbit. The U.S. government later said the claim was false. …

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