The UN Security Council was considering how to respond this afternoon after North Korea test-fired a barrage of missiles including a long-range weapon said to be capable of reaching Alaska.
South Korean photographers take pictures of a burning North Korean flag during an anti-North Korea rally in Seoul
Japan, the United States and Britain prepared a resolution demanding that nations withhold all funds, goods and technology that could be used for North Korea's missile program.
Defying international warnings, North Korea launched at least six missiles early morning and a seventh some 12 hours later, officials in Japan and South Korea said.
Russia said North Korea had fired 10 missiles, but the report from a senior general could not be immediately confirmed.
The long-range Taepodong-2 missile apparently failed 40 seconds into its flight, US officials said. Japanese and South Korean officials said the missiles fell into the sea separating the Korean peninsula from Japan.
The US warned the reclusive communist state against any more provocative acts, and said Washington would take necessary measures to protect itself and its allies.
"The United States strongly condemns these missile launches and North Korea's unwillingness to heed calls for restraint from the international community," White House spokesman Tony Snow said in a statement.
The council draft, read to Reuters and subject to changes, condemned the launch and strongly urged North Korea to return to the six-nation talks hosted by China on its nuclear program.
China is North Korea's closest ally and Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya struck a cautious note.
"This is the view of the international community, that actions taken should be constructive for maintaining peace in that part of the world," he told reporters.
"If all council members feel that some appropriate action is needed by the council, we will see," Wang said. "But certainly what happened was a regret."
In 1998 when North Korea fired an earlier version of its Taepodong missile over northern Japan into the Pacific Ocean, China at that time opposed any Security Council action and the council issued a statement two weeks after the launch expressing "regret."
No vote was expected today after the meeting behind closed doors that Japan requested.
South Korea's military stepped up its alert level after the launch, Yonhap news agency cited a military source as saying.
The two Koreas are technically still at war more than half a century after an inconclusive truce halted the 1950-1953 Korean conflict. Some 30,000 US troops remain in South Korea under a mutual defense treaty.
The missile launches "demonstrate North Korea's intent to intimidate other states by developing missiles of increasingly longer ranges," Mr Snow said. "We are consulting with international partners on next steps."
The European Union condemned North Korea's missile launches as "provocative," while NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said they were a serious threat which the Western military alliance could discuss with regional powers including Japan, South Korea and Australia.
US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the multiple launches might have been an attempt by Pyongyang to steal the spotlight away from Iran, which has been the main focus of U.S. nuclear diplomacy in recent months.
"Obviously, it is a bit of an effort to get attention, perhaps because so much attention has been focused on the Iranians," Mr Hadley told reporters.
But like many US officials, he said it was impossible to be sure about Pyongyang's motives.
North Korea, whose government pays close attention to symbolic gestures, chose to launch the missiles as the United States was marking its July 4th Independence Day. The tests rattled currency markets and contributed to a fall in US stocks.