South Korea says North Korea rocket appears to be orbiting Earth

South Korea said Thursday a rocket successfully launched into orbit by North Korea appears to be orbiting the Earth normally, but the country says it does not know whether the rocket is functioning properly.

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters that the satellite is orbiting at a speed of 4.7 miles per second but it's not known what mission it is performing. He says it takes two weeks to determine whether a satellite works successfully after liftoff.

The news comes after a defiant North Korea released images and control room footage of the feat, which the U.S. and other nations have labeled a "provocative" act.

The rogue regime fired the long-range rocket into space Wednesday, defying international warnings and taking a major step forward in its quest to develop a nuclear missile. While the stated purpose was to put a weather satellite into orbit, the three-stage rocket's deployment also demonstrates the nation's ability to send a nuclear warhead as far as California, and raises the stakes in the international standoff over North Korea's expanding atomic arsenal.

"The satellite has entered the planned orbit," a North Korean television news reader announced, after which the station played patriotic songs with the lyrics "Chosun (Korea) does what it says."

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) later confirmed that the nation had "deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit."

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