Russia condemns DPRK's long-range rocket launch

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Sunday condemned the long-range rocket launch of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"It is obvious that such action leads to a serious aggravation of the situation on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia on the whole," the ministry said in a statement.

"(The launch) plays into the hands of those who put stakes on bloc policies and the buildup of a military confrontation, and would cause serious damage to the security of countries of the region, primarily of North Korea (the DPRK) itself," it said.

Earlier in the day, the Korean Central Television (KCTV) reported that the DPRK had successfully launched a Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite, which was widely seen as a disguised test of long-range ballistic missile technology.

By doing so, Pyongyang ignored calls by the international community, and the launch once again showed a "defiant disregard" for international law, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the course that Pyongyang has chosen would only arouse strong protests, adding that it strongly recommended that the DPRK's leadership consider whether its policy of acting in opposition to the international community meets the country's best interest.

UN Security Council resolutions ban the DPRK from launching a rocket by using any ballistic missile technologies. A long-range rocket and a ballistic missile have overlapping technologies.

The launch came about a month after 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. Endi