UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday "It is deeply deplorable that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has conducted a launch using ballistic missile technology," according to a statement of Ban's spokesman.

The missile launch on Saturday is in violation of relevant Security Council resolutions "despite the united plea of the international community against such an act," said the statement.

Reiterating "his call on the DPRK to halt its provocative actions and return to compliance with its international obligations," Ban reaffirmed his commitment to working with all sides in reducing tensions and achieving the verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, it said.

UN Secruity Council will hold closed-door consultations on Sunday.


UN Security Council to meet in emergency session on DPRK's satellite launch

The UN Security Council is to convene a closed-door emergency session here on Sunday morning to discuss the satellite launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) against relevant UN resolutions, diplomatic sources told Xinhua Saturday night.

The meeting of the 15-nation UN body was requested by the United States, South Korea and Japan, reports said.

The DPRK has confirmed that it successfully launched a Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite, an earth observation satellite, on Sunday morning. There was widespread fear that the launch was a disguised test of ballistic missile technology.

On Tuesday, the DPRK informed three UN entities of its intention to launch an earth-observation satellite between Feb. 8 and 25, and later advanced the date to Feb. 7 and 14.

On Jan. 6, the DPRK tested what it claimed to be its first hydrogen bomb, the fourth nuclear detonation following three other ones in 2006, 2009 and 2013, escalating the tension on the Korean Peninsula to a new high.