U.S. says North Korea failed to orbit satellite - agency

SEOUL, April 5 (RIA Novosti) - North Korea failed to orbit a satellite after its three-stage rocket and the payload fell into the Pacific Ocean, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, referring to the U.S. and South Korean military.

"All three stages are believed to have fallen into the ocean," Yonhap quoted South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee as saying, and also cited the U.S. military command, according to which "no object entered orbit."

North Korea launched a multistage rocket with a communications satellite at 11:30 a.m. (02:30 a.m. GMT) over Japan on Sunday, defying pressure from the United States, Japan and South Korea and other countries, which suspect the launch was a cover for the test of the communist regime's Taepodong-2 long-range missile.

"The payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean," Yonhap quoted the U.S. Northern Command as saying.

North Korea earlier claimed that its carrier rocket had successfully delivered a communications satellite into orbit.

"Our scientists and technicians succeeded in delivering an artificial satellite, Kwangmyongsong-2, into orbit with the carrier rocket Unha-2 in accordance with the national space development plan," the official Korean Central News Agency (KSNA) reported.

According to KCNA, the satellite was now transmitting data and revolutionary songs to praise the communist regime's current and former leaders.