N. Korea 'defied' world with rocket launch: US lawmaker

WASHINGTON (AFP) - North Korea's rocket launch on Wednesday showed leader Kim Jong Un is just as provocative as his father, with Pyongyang seeking to defy the world with a ballistic missile threat, a top US Republican lawmaker warned.

"North Korea has once again defied the United Nations, its six-party partners, and the world by launching a long-range rocket under the guise of a so-called 'satellite test,'" said congressman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"It is clear that Pyongyang is moving ever closer towards its ultimate goal of producing a nuclear ballistic missile in order to threaten not only our allies in the Asia-Pacific region but the US as well," she said in a statement released late on Tuesday, US time.

North Korea launched a long-range rocket in defiance of UN sanctions threats over what Pyongyang's critics insist is a disguised ballistic missile test.