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.<br />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.<br />Pyongyang carried out both acts in defiance of international sanctions.<br />An emergency Security Council meeting will be convened Sunday at 11 a.m. in New York to discuss a potential international response.<br />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."
