The United Nations condemned North Korea's satellite launch as a "dangerous and serious" violation of international restrictions, and threatened new sanctions aimed at dissuading the rogue nation from building missiles capable of delivering weapons against distant adversaries including the United States.

The launch followed North Korea's detonation of a nuclear device last month, putting new pressure on the United States and its threatened ally South Korea to take steps that could include deploying a missile defence capability that is firmly opposed by China.

After an emergency meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on Sunday, members of the Security Council accused North Korea of defying repeated warnings with an action that constitutes "a clear threat to international peace and security."

"The members of the Security Council strongly condemn this launch," the council said in a statement read by Rafael Ramirez, the Venezuelan ambassador at the United Nations. Dismissing the North's claim of peaceful intent, he described the satellite launch as a provocative step toward the "development of a nuclear weapons delivery system."

But the Security Council provided no details on the nature of any new sanctions it may pursue against the country, which has ignored an array of existing punitive measures with a series of long-range rocket launches and nuclear weapons tests in recent years.

North Korea said on Saturday that it had fired a Kwangmyongsong-4 (the name translates as "lode star"), a newer-model satellite than the one launched three years ago and one that it said was equipped with devices for Earth measurement and communication.

Saturday's launch was widely seen as a cover for North Korean efforts to acquire intercontinental capability, although bringing a warhead back down through the atmosphere to hit a distant target is significantly more complex than sending a satellite into space.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the launch was "deeply deplorable," carried out "despite the united plea of the international community against such an act."

The denunciations were accompanied by other signals that the fallout in the region may go beyond diplomatic measures.

The United States and South Korea signalled new interest in exploring the installation of a sophisticated US antimissile system - a step that Seoul previously had resisted under pressure from China.

South Korean and US military officials said on Sunday that they had agreed to begin negotiations for the "earliest possible" deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system that uses ground-based launchers to shoot down missiles.

"North Korea continues to develop their nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, and it is the responsibility of our alliance to maintain a strong defence against those threats," General Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of US Forces Korea, said in a statement. "THAAD can add an important capability."

Missile experts said the THAAD system is regarded as an effective defense against short- and medium-range missiles, meaning it could protect South Korea from attack but would be of little use against long-range strikes, such as a missile aimed at the United States.

The renewed discussions of deploying the THAAD system reflect rising anxiety in South Korea, where leaders may be less inclined to comply with warnings from China or trust Beijing's assertions that it can keep North Korea in check.

"It would appear that South Korea has had enough," said Thomas Karako, head of the Missile Defence Project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

South Korea's reluctance to allow the missile defense system "has everything to do with the politics and pressure that China has been putting on its southern neighbour," Mr Karako said. But the back-to-back nuclear test and satellite launch by the North is likely to drive the United States and South Korea "much closer together and further mute the effect of Chinese objections."

Washington Post