Seoul Vows Concrete Measures Against NK Rocket

South Korea has vowed to take stern and concrete steps against North Korea for launching a self-claimed satellite Sunday, saying the launch is a "clear violation" of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

"While taking every necessary step to counter any types of provocation from North Korea in the future, the government is taking concrete countermeasures against the rocket launch through close consultations with the United Nations and related countries," Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told a press conference.

The reaction came shortly after Seoul's presidential office confirmed the communist nation fired its rocket despite repeated international warnings.

"North Korea's rocket firing is a clear violation of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718. Whatever the North's claim is, the launch is a serious provocation that threatens the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia," the minister said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department also confirmed North Korea has launched a rocket in defiance of a United Nations resolution and called it "a provocative act."

Spokesman Fred Lash said the launch took place at 10:30 p.m. EDT Saturday (0230 GMT Sunday), according to the Associated Press.

The U.S. will "take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it cannot threaten the safety and security of other countries with impunity," the spokesman quoted as saying.

"North's Korea's development, deployment and proliferation of missiles, ballistic missile-related materials, equipment and technologies pose a serious threat to the northeast Asia region and to the international community."