North Korea's keenly-watched rocket launch has failed, Pyongyang has confirmed.

朝鲜政府证实，备受关注的火箭发射活动宣告失败。

The rocket - seen by many as a banned test of long-range missile technology - was launched from north-west North Korea early on Friday.

The US, Japan and South Korea say it flew only for a short time before breaking up and crashing into waters off the Korean peninsula.

North Korea said its scientists were assessing what had caused the failure.

North Korea says the aim of the rocket was to launch a satellite into orbit - a move marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of national founder¹ Kim Il-sung.

But the US and other nations say the launch constituted a disguised test of long-range missile technology banned under UN resolutions.

In a statement, the White House condemned² the launch, despite its failure. The UN Security Council is due to meet later in the day to discuss the launch.

'Ended in failure'

The rocket went up at 07:39 local time (22:39 GMT Thursday), South Korean officials said.

Its intended flight path would have taken it south, to the west of the Korean peninsula between Japan and the Philippines.

Both Japan and South Korea had threatened to shoot it down if it threatened their territory.

But officials from several nations observing the launch said the rocket had failed.

"Initial indications are that the first stage of the missile fell into the sea 165km (105 miles) west of Seoul, South Korea," the North American Aerospace³ Defense⁴ Command (Norad) said in a statement.

"The remaining stages were assessed to have failed and no debris⁵ fell on land. At no time were the missile or the resultant debris a threat."

Japan reported similar details.

"At approximately 7:40 a.m. we confirmed that a certain flying object was launched from North Korea and fell after flying for just over a minute," Japanese Defence Minister Naoki Tanaka said.

South Korea said the rocket exploded into some 20 pieces and fell into the sea. "We are conducting a search operation to retrieve⁶（检索，挽回） the fallen objects," a defence ministry⁷ official said.

Some five hours after the launch, North Korea confirmed it had been unsuccessful.

"The earth observation satellite failed to enter its preset orbit. Scientists, technicians and experts are now looking into the cause of the failure," state-run KCNA news agency said. State television carried a similar announcement.

The BBC's Damian Grammaticas, who is one of a number of foreign journalists invited into North Korea for the launch, said the group had not been given any more information beyond that brief statement.

The rocket's failure, our correspondent said, is an embarrassment⁸（窘迫，难堪） for the North Korean leadership.

It will also come, analysts⁹ say, as a relief to many countries who are worried about North Korea's potential to deliver weapons via long-range missiles.