US suspends North Korea food aid as UN deplores rocket launch

The United States has called off plans to send food aid to North Korea, after the impoverished state launched a rocket in defiance of international demands.

A UN agency says that more than three million people in the country could go hungry this year as a result of insufficient food supplies.

The United States had already suspended the plan to deliver 240,000 metric tonnes of assistance aimed at children and pregnant women as North Korea prepared what the government called an unsuccessful bid to put a satellite in orbit.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council issued a statement after closed-door talks and said the launch was in breach of two Security Council resolutions.

Consultations on an appropriate response would continue, "given the urgency of the matter", it continued.

In an unusual step, the North admitted the launch of the satellite had failed, and went ahead with planned celebrations in Pyongyang.

The UN statement, read by the current Security Council chair, US ambassador Susan Rice, said the launch broke UNSC resolutions 1718 and 1874.

They imposed tough sanctions against North Korea following earlier rocket launches in 2006 an 2009.

The official reason for the launch had been to put a satellite into orbit in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the state's founder, Kim Il-sung.

Kim Jong-un, his grandson, led tens of thousands of people in lavish celebrations in central Pyongyang at which giant statues were unveiled to both his grandfather and his late father, Kim Jong-il.

Many outside the country saw the launch as an illegal test of long-range missile technology.