The object that North Korea sent into space on Wednesday appears to be “tumbling out of control” as it orbits the earth, U.S. officials told NBC News.

The officials said that it is indeed some kind of space vehicle, but they still haven’t been able to determine exactly what the satellite is supposed to do.

In a statement, the White House said the rocket launch was a highly provocative act that threatens regional security and violates U.N. resolutions.

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday condemned the launch, calling it a "clear violation" of U.N. resolutions. A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he "deplores" the launch.

North Korea is banned from conducting missile and nuclear tests, under the terms of U.N. sanctions imposed after a series of nuclear weapons tests in 2006 and 2009.

Missile warning systems detected the launch at 7:49 p.m. ET Tuesday. North American Aerospace Defense Command officials said in a statement that the initial indications were that the first stage fell into the Yellow Sea and the second stage fell into the Philippine Sea.

North Korea said the launch was an attempt to place a satellite into a pole-to-pole orbit. Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency said that the rocket was fired from the Sohae Satellite Launch Center on the secretive country's west coast, and that the Kwangmyongsong weather satellite went into orbit as planned.

KCNA via Reuters

North Korean scientists work as a screen shows the Unha-3 (Milky Way 3) rocket being launched at the satellite control center in Cholsan county, North Pyongan province.

But U.S. officials say the launch was a thinly veiled attempt to test a three-stage ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead as far as the U.S. West Coast.

ANALYSIS: 'Spoiled child' North Korea snubs China

Russia added its voice to the condemnation of the launch and also called on other nations to refrain from further escalating tensions.

"The new rocket launch carried out by North Korea flaunts the opinion of the international community, including calls from the Russian side," it said.

China, North Korea's only major diplomatic ally, said officials had urged Pyongyang not to go ahead with the launch, and expressed regret that it had taken place.

Japan and South Korea voiced concern as well. "The Japanese government regards this launch as an act compromising the peace and stability of the region, including Japan," said Osamu Fujimura, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting of his national security council.

The liftoff came as a shock to many South Koreans because they thought it would not take place until after South Korea's presidential election on Dec. 19.

Only a day earlier, North Korea hinted that the launch time might have to be readjusted due to weather or a technical problem.

"It was a surprise in terms of the timing," Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst with the RAND think tank, told The Associated Press. "They had talked about postponing for a week. To recover so quickly from technical problems suggests they have gotten good at putting together a missile."

This was North Korea's fifth test launch of a long-range rocket or ballistic missile – and the second launch since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un came to power in the wake of his father’s death a year ago. Experts say none of the previous attempts was successful, although Pyongyang says otherwise.

The last rocket was launched in April but fell apart shortly after being fired.

One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told NBC News that Kim was under pressure to launch a success.

"He knows the stakes are high either way, and it is really what he does next that matters," the official said.

Jim Miklszewski is NBC News' chief Pentagon correspondent. Alan Boyle is NBC News' science editor. This report includes information from NBC News' Julie Yoo in Seoul and Arata Yamamoto in Tokyo, as well as Reuters and The Associated Press.

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Google via Yonhap / EPA

A satellite image showing North Korea's Dongchang-ri missile launch site, located in the North Pyongan Province, bordering China, Dec. 2.

SEOUL — North Korea has started to dismantle a controversial long-range rocket on its launch pad in an apparent move to fix a technical problem but still looks likely to go ahead with the launch, South Korean news reports and experts said Tuesday.

North Korea says the launch is to put a weather satellite in orbit, but critics say it is aimed at nurturing the kind of technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.

When the first reports emerged that the rocket parts were being taken down, there was speculation the North might abandon the launch altogether.

But experts said the construction of the rocket meant that it needed to be removed from its gantry.

"For North Korean rockets, it's the only way to repair them because they build the rocket stage by stage," said Kwon Se-jin, a rocket expert at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Daejeon, South Korea.

Even China worried
North Korea said on Monday that the launch window had been extended by a week due to technical problems.

"So as it had announced, if the North has a problem with the first-stage control module, it has to replace it and take down (the rocket) from the top," Kwon said.

Slideshow: Daily life in North Korea

Elizabeth Dalziel / AP

From work to play, see pictures from inside the secretive country.

Launch slideshow

US sends warships as North Korea prepares rocket launch

The launch has been timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the death of former leader Kim Jong-il after a failed launch in April. It also comes as Japan and South Korea, long-time foes of the North, are holding elections.

North Korea is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests, and the United States, South Korea and Japan have condemned the current launch.

Russia, China press N. Korea to scuttle planned rocket launch

Even China, the one major diplomatic backer of isolated and impoverished North Korea, has expressed "deep concern" over the planned launch.

South Korean media reported on Tuesday that satellite images showed the rocket was being taken down.

Has North Korea learned its lessons about launches?

"We have captured indications that a part of the rocket is being disassembled from the launch pad in Tongchang-ri," Yonhap news agency quoted a South Korean government source as saying.

The name refers to the North's new test site in its western region close to the border with China.

Q&A: Rocket is 'not a military missile ... but it's darn close'

"There is no change to the North's will to fire the rocket," another source was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

Officials at South Korea's military and its foreign and defense ministries could not confirm the reports.

North Korea notified international maritime and aviation bodies of its plans last week.

It was impossible to confirm the media reports in what is one of the most closed and secretive states on Earth.

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Updated at 9:55 a.m. ET: WASHINGTON —The United States is shifting four warships into position to track and possibly defend against a planned North Korean rocket launch, while urging Pyongyang to cancel its second such attempt this year, officials told NBC News.

The Aegis guided-missile cruiser Shiloh and three guided-missile destroyers John S. McCain, Benfold and Fitzgerald will be put in place as a "prudent precaution," officials told NBC News.

The Navy ships' guided missile will attempt to intercept and destroy the North Korean missile if it veers off course and threatens either Japan or the Philippines.

The North Koreans have announced they will attempt to "put a satellite into orbit" atop a ballistic missile sometime between Dec. 10 and Dec. 22.

"It should seem logical that we'll move them around so we have the best situational awareness," Adm. Samuel Locklear, who commands U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region, told a Pentagon news conference, according to Reuters.

"To the degree that those ships are capable of participating in ballistic missile defense, then we will position them to be able to do that," he added.

He said U.S. warships were being moved to monitor the rocket, as they were when Pyongyang attempted a similar launch in April.

"It should seem logical that we'll move them around so we have the best situational awareness," he said. "To the degree that those ships are capable of participating in ballistic missile defense, then we will position them to be able to do that."

Violating UN resolutions?
The United States and many other countries view the test of the long-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile as a violation of U.N. resolutions that would further destabilize the Korean Peninsula.

The North Korean launch attempt in April failed.

Russia, China press N. Korea to scuttle planned rocket launch

Locklear said the re-positioned U.S. ships would help answer a series of questions.

"If they do violate the Security Council and launch a missile, what kind is it? What is it about? Where does it go? Who does it threaten? Where do the parts of it ... that don't go where they want it to go, where do they go? And what are the consequences of that?" he said.

Has North Korea learned its lessons about launches?

The admiral said his main concern was reassuring U.S. allies that the United States was effectively monitoring the situation.

"We believe it is still contradictory to the U.N. Security Council resolutions ... because of the nature of the type of missile that they will be firing and the implications it has for ballistic-type of activity somewhere down the road and the destabilizing impact that will have on the security environment throughout the region," Locklear said.

Slideshow: Daily life in North Korea

Elizabeth Dalziel / AP

From work to play, see pictures from inside the secretive country.

Launch slideshow

New leadership may be more 'rational'
He said there had been signs that the government of new leader Kim Jong Un would take a more "rational approach" to how it deals with its economy, its citizens and its international relationships.

Q&A: Rocket is 'not a military missile ... but it's darn close'

Kim took power after the death of his father, former leader Kim Jong Il, on Dec. 17, 2011. The anniversary of his father's death falls during the time frame set by North Korea for the rocket launch. Presidential elections in neighboring South Korea take place two days later, on Dec. 19.

'Grave provocation': North Korea vows to test long-range rocket

Locklear said while there was hope for a shift in North Korea's political direction, Pyongyang was once again poised to violate U.N. Security Council resolutions regarding its nuclear program.

"We encourage the leadership in North Korea to consider what they are doing here and the implications on the overall security environment on the Korean Peninsula, as well as in Asia," he said.

NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski and Reuters contributed to this report.

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SINGAPORE -- In the two minutes it takes to read this story, an area the size of 60 football fields will have been clear-cut by illegal loggers globally, according to Chatham House, an independent policy institute in London.

Catching the loggers and their bosses has long been a problem because of corruption, lax law enforcement and limited ability to detect the crime quickly.

Satellite monitoring is changing that. Powerful eyes in the sky and cheaper and more powerful data-crunching computers mean there will be no place to hide for palm oil, logging or mining firms that clear without permits or outside their concessions.

Higher resolution satellite imaging and near-real time analysis will mean investors, green groups, law enforcement agencies and the public can monitor any patch of forest.

Washington-based World Resources Institute plans to launch an upgraded version of Global Forest Watch, a free Web-based service, either later this year or early in 2013.

Using a NASA satellite, the service will focus on tropical areas of the globe with an image resolution of 500 meters by 500 meters every 16 days.

Study: Wildlife vanishing at 'staggering rate' in Brazil forests

Users can choose an area of interest and be alerted by e-mail about any changes in tree cover.

The Global Forest Watch tool, supported by Google and the University of Maryland among others, will also contain data about logging or agricultural licenses and their owners, protected areas, infrastructure and other details.

Due diligence
For investors such as banks or private equity firms, the tool can be used for due diligence to check up on a potential acquisition such as an Indonesian palm oil firm, to make sure it is on the right side of the law, said Nigel Sizer, director of WRI's Forests Initiative. Similarly, international food companies can make sure their palm oil suppliers are environmentally compliant.

PhotoBlog: Calif. environmentalists say logging burned forest near Tahoe threatens rare bird

Forest and conservation news site Mongabay.com recently launched a free deforestation tracker using NASA satellite data. It issues an alert if green cover in an area being tracked changes by more than 40 percent over a year.

Slideshow:

Mario Tama / Getty Images

The Amazon rainforest has meant prosperous times for many in Brazil, but environmental and cultural disaster for others.

Launch slideshow

Another service, Terra-i, offers free high-resolution forest cover analysis for all of Latin America.

PhotoBlog: Survival of isolated tribe in Peru threatened

Thomson Reuters subsidiary Lanworth offers detailed deforestation analysis by area, time and forest type. Their work was central to a Reuters investigation last month into illegal clearing by a palm oil firm in Borneo.

Slideshow: Dams rising across Brazil's Amazon

Mario Tama / Getty Images

The Belo Monte dam is among 60 Brazil plans to build in its Amazon region to help power its growing economy. But the vision also has its critics.

Launch slideshow

Sizer said within five years, micro satellites with 5 to 10 meters resolution will deliver real-time imaging to rapidly detect any changes in forest cover. In a decade, high-resolution video would likely be available.

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PYONGYANG, North Korea – Quickly after the failed launch of the Kwangmyongsong-2 rocket, two things became abundantly clear: We, the foreign press corps brought in to cover the launch, knew far less about it than our colleagues outside of North Korea, and the only people we would be informing about anything today would be our government-assigned guides/minders.

Many of the foreign news crews – which have been in Pyongyang for about a week – had been assured multiple times by our minders that we would get the opportunity to witness the launch. Two large video screens installed in our little hotel newsroom late Thursday appeared to validate that belief.

Between scuttlebutt gleaned from our research and talks with North Korean space officials, many of us believed that our coverage would begin with an early wake-up call Friday morning from our minders whenever they got the word.

Instead, that wake-up call came not from any North Korean officials, but from NBC’s foreign news desk, prompting us to head down to the newsroom – the only place in the hotel where we can access the Internet – to confirm what was happening.

But what was there to report? Inside the newsroom, the video screens were blank, and local North Korean TV was not showing any rocket coverage. A section of the newsroom seemingly set-up as a post-launch podium for North Korean officials to answer questions was staffed by a disinterested minder.

Meanwhile, on Twitter and foreign news websites, initial reports of a botched launch were being followed up with details about the failure: the location of the debris, what the rocket looked like before it exploded and initial reaction from foreign governments on the incident.

Yet the North Koreans minders were idly chatting among themselves, completely oblivious to the botched launch that just happened, and apparently planning for just another day of guiding us on another highly orchestrated visit through the city.

That sense was confirmed as I ran back and forth between the newsroom and the live shot positions outdoors. “Please be ready to go this morning for a music festival,” said one minder as he cornered me on a trip back to the newsroom.

“There is no way we’re going on that trip!” I replied. “You know the satellite launch failed today, right?”

My declaration was met with an incredulous stare before the minder slowly turned around and walked away. It was a scene replayed multiple times as minders, unsure what all the excitement was about, corralled journalists and had the news broken to them.

This led to a mass exodus of minders.

North Korea faces rocket reality: Failure is an option

Ironically though, at the one moment when we the press suddenly had the most freedom we’d had all trip, no one had the means to take advantage and begin covering the North Korean side of the launch.
  
As the pandemonium of the initial push to break news passed, many of us expected the North Koreans to call some sort of press conference to acknowledge the failure and explain what had gone wrong.

But the podium remained unused and the pokerfaced North Koreans in the room gave no hint that we would hear anything from the government about the launch failure. A terse statement on North Korean state television had acknowledged the rocket’s flop into the water to the public, but nothing else.

The lone statement was a great first step toward North Korea becoming a more open and possibly reflects a quiet confidence in the country’s new leader, Kim Jong-un.

Kyodo / Reuters

Kim Jong-un (C), current leader of North Korea, reacts after fireworks were released during the unveiling ceremony of bronze statues of North Korea founder Kim Il-sung and late leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang on Friday. North Korea said its much hyped long-range rocket launch failed on Friday, in a very rare and embarrassing public admission of failure by the hermit state.

Unlike his father, Kim Jong-il, who covered up past launch failures, the younger Kim has demonstrated a degree of assuredness in publicly acknowledging the rocket disaster to his people.

This certainly doesn’t mean that the country is turning over a new leaf – after all, the rocket test stunt itself shows that bad habits die hard, if at all. However, Kim’s concession suggests that this young, new leader may not strictly follow the game plan of his predecessors.

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Updated at 10:50 a.m. ET: The United States has canceled a proposed food aid deal with North Korea following over its attempt to launch a long-range rocket taking a satellite into orbit.

Senior administration officials told NBC News the deal with Pyongyang is off after the rocket was fired. It failed shortly after launch and landed in the sea off the South Korea coast.

"We are not going forward with an agreement to provide them with any assistance," White House National Security Council spokesman Ben Rhodes told reporters traveling with President Barack Obama to Florida.

He added that the U.S. and its allies will "take additional steps" if there are more "provocative actions."

Earlier, the G-8 group of countries on Friday condemned North Korea, and a leading Republican said even a failed test would help North Korea develop "technology capable of delivering a nuclear weapon that can threaten American cities tomorrow."

A U.S. official told NBC News that the launch was the fourth time the North Koreans had tried to launch this kind of missile, saying it should serve as a "real wake-up call" for the country's new regime.

In a statement, foreign ministers of the G-8 -- made up of the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia, the U.K., Germany, France and Italy -- raised the possibility of action by the United Nations.

"We, the G-8 Foreign Ministers, condemn the launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which is a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1695, 1718, and 1874," the statement said.

Reuters graphic showing the rocket's path

"Sharing the view that the launch undermines regional peace and stability, we call on the DPRK to abstain from further launches using ballistic missile technology or other actions which aggravate the situation on the Korean Peninsula," it added.

It said they were "ready to consider, with others, taking measures responding to all activities of the DPRK that violate U.N. Security Council Resolutions."

They said they might also call for what it described an "appropriate response" by the U.N. Security Council.

How will North Korea deal with failure?

The foreign ministers urged North Korea to abandon "all its nuclear weapons and its existing nuclear and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner," end its uranium enrichment activities, and take "concrete and irreversible steps toward denuclearization."

A U.S. official told NBC News that the missile had failed shortly after launch, before the news was confirmed by North Korea itself.

"The North Korean missile failed shortly after launch," the official said. "Think about it:  This is the fourth failure to launch this missile as it was designed, and should serve as a real wake-up call for the new government."

North Korea rocket breaks up after much-touted launch

"Their efforts to draw attention to the program certainly seem to have backfired in this case," the official added. "Everyone will be watching closely to see how the government handles this first real test."

U.S. Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl said in a statement that the missile launch was "yet another provocative action undertaken by the regime in Pyongyang." 

"The rocket that the North Koreans attempted to launch employs technology that is relatively identical to that of a ballistic missile, including similar guidance and propulsion systems," he said. "Even a failed launch can provide useful information for North Korea's development of technology capable of delivering a nuclear weapon that can threaten American cities tomorrow."
 
He said the North Korean regime had "once again" demonstrated "complete disregard for international sanctions and its proclivity for worthless commitments."

Kyl said the Obama administration should "abandon its naive negotiations with North Korea (and Iran), and instead focus on fully funding missile defenses that can protect the United States from ballistic missile threats."

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that the official North Korean news agency, KCNA, confirmed the rocket had failed to enter orbit about four hours after the launch.

KCNA said that the scientists and engineers were working to find out the cause of failure.

In Japan, there was relief at the failure, but local media were asking why it took the government 40 minutes to confirm the launch to the Japanese public.

Japan's prime minister Yoshihiko Noda urged Pyongyang to abide by all United Nations resolutions and demanded that it takes concrete steps in resolving the various outstanding issues including their nuclear and missile development, as well as addressing the highly charged issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North korean agents.

Japan currently has various sanctions in place against North Korea, among them a ban of all exports and imports and also restricting entry of all North Korean vessels.

Arata Yamamoto, NBC News producer in Tokyo, contributed to this report.

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The five-day window for the launch of a North Korean rocket mounted with an observation satellite opened Thursday as the rest of the world waits to see if Pyongyang will defy international warnings and go ahead with the controversial mission.

NBC News is in North Korea to observe the launch with space expert James Oberg. With a 22-year career as a space engineer in support of NASA’s spaceflight operations, Oberg has the experience and technical expertise to determine the veracity of North Korea’s claims about this mission.

Oberg answered reader questions for an hour earlier today. The questions and answers were extremely engaging and informative.
Click below to replay the chat.

Read some of Oberg's reports on North Korea's space program:

What happens if North Korea's satellite fails?

North Koreans desperate for Western approval of launch

North Korea's 'unconvincing' answers to satellite questions

NBC space expert on North Korea satellite launch: 'It's not a military missile...but it's darn close'

PYONGYANG, North Korea – With just one day before North Korea’s expected controversial satellite launch to commemorate the 100th birthday of “Great Leader” Kim Il-sung, the government invited journalists to view its Mission Control – the nerve center where the rocket and satellite will be monitored and guided from.

Coming after a press conference the day before, this was likely our last preview of preparations before launch. It was important because it gave us a critical view of the real operators of the satellite. 

Following the visit, NBC News sat down with 22-year NASA Mission Control veteran and NBC space consultant James Oberg to discuss what he learned from this visit and his expectations for the launch.

First off, what were your impressions of the Control Center? Was it as you expected it to be?
It looked like a real control center – from the outside as well as the inside. First the communications links – two communications domes and a pretty hefty antenna farm on top of the hill – looked real, and inside the displays appeared logical and made sense to me.

Digitalglobe / via AFP - Getty Images

This DigitalGlobe satellite image obtained April 11, 2012, shows an image of the Tongchang-ri Launch Facility in North Korea. This image was taken April 9, 2012.

One difference: There was a big sign outside the building here that I found out didn’t actually say Mission Control Center; instead, it said, “Everyone follow the leadership of the Great General.”

The director of the center made a short speech and then specifically called for you to come to the front of the press scrum to witness everything. What was that like for you?
It was certainly flattering, but clearly also an attempt at manipulation because he asked me to endorse his claim that the satellite launch was peaceful. Still, I recognized it as a gesture of respect for the American space program, for which I am the only representative to have ever visited the North Korean space program, though completely unauthorized officially by NASA.

For a while there, it seemed like there were as many North Korean cameras focused on you as foreign ones. Did you expect all that attention today?
No, I didn’t. But when you think about it and realize how desperate the North Koreans are for the appearance of Western approval, they’re bound to look for it wherever they can get it. Just the presence of this press corps, not just me, is interpreted as a sign of foreign respect for the program.

Some might view your presence at the launch center as a convenient propaganda prop for their claims. How do you respond to that?
They certainly felt it was. But I was able to use the visibility to raise some questions they had not yet answered to my satisfaction. I stressed that the boasted transparency of the North Koreans was nowhere near complete and that we didn’t have reliable insight into what was under the nose cone of that rocket.

The director joked about letting one journalist ride on the rocket. I told him that photographs of the installation of the satellite would be enough to dispel lingering suspicions, including in my own mind. He promised to provide them, but I’m not holding my breath.

One of your primary questions over the last couple of days has been how soon after launch would we start to receive radio signals from the satellite to confirm its success. Do you feel you got an adequate answer on that?
Absolutely. The director gave an answer that was totally consistent with my own calculations that it might be up to 12 hours before they get a good solid communications link with the satellite.

In the meantime, he enthusiastically agreed that amateur radio listeners around the world should try to pick up the signal, which he assured us would be broadcast continuously. Of course, it’s to their advantage that a foreign expert confirm the first proof of the satellite’s successful launch since controversy remains over the success of their [previous] satellite launch, which they still insist was successful against all other evidence.

At one point you asked where the equivalent of your old console would be in the control room and he pointed to the orbital information station in the room, a station you manned for many years. That was pretty impressive.
Yeah, I got a kick out of that. But it’s too bad I couldn’t talk to the actual operator. Because there are still interesting – to me, at least – questions about some third-stage rocket steering maneuvers they seem to need during launch to get into their target orbit. We could have had a real geek-level conversation that would have blown the interpreter’s mind.

NBC’s Richard Engel, as well as other Western journalists, continued to ask North Korean officials about the military application of these rockets, but the answers were at times exasperated and sometimes sarcastic. What do you make of it?
We’re really engaged in dual disconnected monologues here, not a real conversation. The North Koreans don’t seem to understand foreign objections and act as if their pure ideological correctness deserves worldwide obedience. They’ve dug themselves deep into the true-believer’s self-delusion that disagreement is caused by stupidity and malice, a bad habit that isn’t restricted to this corner of the world. In the West we have a hard time understanding how genuinely crazy so many North Korean projects – such as this satellite – really may be. 

But isn’t political single-mindedness a plus for advancing a difficult effort such as space exploration?
It might seem so at first, but I’m beginning to worry that the opposite is more likely to turn out to be true.  An effective safety culture in space, or any other high-tech field, demands disobedience and independent thinking from people who detect real problems that require real solutions.

But the official North Korean reaction to difficulties looks like resorting to appeals for divine inspiration from their infallible leadership so they can bully reality to “fit” their intentions. I can’t detect any indications of the necessary kind of critical problem-solving and that’s a bad sign.

Space programs infected by such a pathological culture, whether Soviet-era or NASA pre-Challenger [and pre-Columbia] era, or today’s North Korea, are doomed to encounter major setbacks.  As the bumper sticker warns, when it comes to human fallibility, “Man forgives, God forgives, Nature – never.”

This visit was likely the last satellite-related site we’ll visit before the launch itself. Any final thoughts before we begin the wait for launch time?
Opening these facilities to outside observers still strikes me as a bold and risky tactic, which I welcome. We may be able to utilize it for the good.

As the old song wisely observes, the North Koreans may not get what they WANT from this gambit – foreign approval. But they may get what they NEED – better foreign insight into their motives and decision-making. And that could make it all worthwhile.

Also for radio enthusiasts around the world, this could be your day to shine. The first people who will get a crack at catching the North Korean hymns the satellite will play to honor Kim Il-sung will be those in Western Australia 20 minutes after launch. About an hour after launch, the Eastern seaboard of the United States will be able to listen in.

Radio enthusiasts hoping to listen to catch the sounds from the satellite can tune into 479MHz. North Korean officials say they will play music continuously on that frequency.

Updated at 8:11 a.m. ET: PYONGYANG -- North Korea said on Wednesday it was injecting fuel into a long-range rocket "as we speak'' ahead of a launch condemned by its neighbors and the West.

The launch is set to take place between Thursday and next Monday and has prompted neighbors such as the Philippines to re-route their air traffic just in case.

Japan said it would shoot down the rocket if it crossed its airspace.

The launch of the Unha-3 rocket, which North Korea says will merely put a weather satellite into space, breaches U.N. sanctions imposed to prevent Pyongyang from developing a missile that could carry a nuclear warhead.

North Korea's 'unconvincing' answers to satellite questions

"I think the fuel injection will be completed at an appropriate date,'' Paek Chang-ho, head of the satellite control center of the Korean Committee of Space Technology, told a group of foreign journalists in the North Korea capital, Pyongyang.

He would not comment on when the fuel injection would be complete. "And as for the exact timing of the launch, it will be decided by my superiors,'' Paek said.

Space consultant James Oberg asked, "When would we get the first radio signals from the satellite?" The director said the first radio signals would be received about 12 hours after launch.

Oberg told NBC News that he had plotted the orbit of the satellite and said it would not really come directly over North Korea for about 11 or 12 hours. However, radio amateurs outside North Korea have a much better opportunity to pick up signals from the satellite beginning in western Australia 20 minutes after launch. The U.S. eastern seaboard would be able to hear it in the following hour.

The director said the satellite would be broadcasting North Korean songs celebrating the "Dear Leader" and encouraged people around the world to tune in and listen.

Regional powers said the launch is a disguised test of the North's long-range missile.

South Korea, which remains technically at war with the North after their 1950-53 conflict ended with a truce rather than a peace treaty, warned Pyongyang it would deepen its isolation if it went ahead with the launch.

Security sources in Seoul, citing satellite images, have said that North Korea, which walked out of "six-party'' disarmament talks three years ago, is also preparing a third nuclear test following the launch, something it did in 2009, and a move bound to trigger further condemnation and isolation.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that history pointed to "additional provocations" from North Korea after the launch, apparently a reference to a nuclear test.

Clinton says North Korea should scrub rocket launch if it wants 'better future'

"This launch will give credence to the view that North Korean leaders see improved relations with the outside world as a threat to their system,'' she told cadets at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

"And recent history strongly suggests that additional provocations may follow."

She also called on China to do more to ensure regional stability.

China, impoverished North Korea's only major ally, on Tuesday reiterated its pleas for calm and said it had "repeatedly expressed its concern and anxiety about the developments," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a press briefing in Beijing.

NBC News' Ed Flanagan and Reuters contributed to this report.

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