SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s foreign minister says a North Korean long-range rocket launch has been confirmed a “failure.”

Kim Sung-hwan provided no further details about what he said was the North’s failure to launch a rocket the West has condemned as a cover for a missile test.

He told reporters Friday in a nationally televised address that Seoul is “strongly condemning North Korea’s new leadership” for ignoring international warnings to cancel the launch.

South Korean and U.S. officials earlier said North Korea fired a long-range rocket. That was in defiance of international warnings against moving forward with a launch widely seen as a provocation.