US President Barack Obama led global condemnation of North Korea's rocket launch Sunday, calling it "a provocative act" for which Pyongyang must be punished.
Outrage poured out of world capitals after the isolated, nuclear-armed Stalinist state launched a long-range rocket carrying what it called a satellite transmitting "immortal revolutionary songs."
The fear is that a similar rocket could be used to fire a nuclear weapon.
South Korea said it was "reckless" and put its armed forces on heightened alert, as did Japan.
China and Russia pleaded for restraint, while the United Nations Security Council went into emergency session in New York to formulate a response.
"This provocation underscores the need for action -- not just this afternoon at the UN Security Council, but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons," said Obama while in Prague for an EU-US summit.
"Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something. The world must stand together to prevent the spread of these weapons."
The president added: "Now is the time for a strong international response. North Korea must know that the path to security and respect will never come through threats and illegal weapons."
US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said Washington would seek the strongest possible response from the UN Security Council.
On her way to the meeting she told reporters it offered an opportunity to secure agreement on "strong collective action," after Tokyo called for a new UN resolution possibly involving sanctions against North Korea.
The rocket soared over Japan, but the US military disputed North Korea's claim that its payload had gone into orbit. Tokyo took no action to shoot it down, as it had warned it might.
"It is an extremely provocative action. Japan can never overlook it," Prime Minister Taro Aso told reporters. He said Japan would join other nations to take action against North Korea.
South Korea put its 680,000-strong military on heightened alert as presidential spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan branded the launch a "reckless" threat to global security.
"The government cannot but express disappointment and regret over North Korea's reckless act of firing a long-range rocket, which poses a serious threat to security on the Korean peninsula and the world.
"The government will deal firmly and resolutely with North Korea's provocative act."
The European Union, NATO, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand joined the chorus of condemnation.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on governments to unite and "punish a regime that respects no international rules.
Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone agreed with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a telephone conversation that six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear programme should be pursued and countries in the region should act jointly to maintain stability.
A sea lion swims near the Palomino islands. REUTERS/Enrique Castro-Mendivil
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