"Stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan," the North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Northern Command said in their brief account of the North Korean rocket launch.

"The remaining stages along with the payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean," the commands said. "No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan."

South Korea also said the satellite which North Korea claimed to have launched Sunday did not enter orbit.

"All three stages of the rocket fell into the sea. No object entered orbit," South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-Hee said. "It was a failed attempt to put a satellite into orbit."

For its part, North Korea said its experimental communications satellite was "rotating normally in its orbit" and transmitting "immortal revolutionary songs" in praise of the communist state's current and former leaders.

Speaking to reporters traveling with US President Barack Obama in Europe, spokesman Robert Gibbs said "there have been a number of instances now where the North Koreans have failed in these attempts."

Obama led global condemnation of the rocket launch, calling it "a provocative act" for which the isolated, nuclear-armed Stalinist state must be punished.

Gibbs said the apparent failure of the satellite launch does not change US plans to press for a UN Security Council resolution against Pyongyang. The 15-member world body has been summoned to an emergency session in New York later Sunday.

"I think the North Koreans have disregarded their responsibilities and international regulations for many many years now going back to at least two presidents. I don't think it has to do with President Obama," he said.

The North says it launched the satellite as part of a peaceful space program.

Washington, Seoul and Tokyo say a launch for any reason tests missile technology, and breaches UN resolution 1718 passed after Pyongyang's 2006 missile and nuclear tests.

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