North Korea celebrates rocket launch

North Koreans gather near portraits of the late leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il during a mass rally organized to celebrate the success of a rocket launch that sent a satellite into space, on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

Wednesday's rocket launch came just eight months after a similar attempt ended in an embarrassing public failure, and just under a year after Kim Jong Un inherited power following his father's death.

In this Dec. 12, 2012 photo released by the Korean Central News Agency, North Korea's Unha-3 rocket lifts off from the Sohae launch pad in Tongchang-ri, North Korea. The satellite on board is orbiting normally, South Korea said on Thursday.

North Korea successfully fired the long-range rocket, defying international warnings as the regime of Kim Jong Un took a big step forward in its quest to develop a nuclear missile.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the General Satellite Control and Command Center on the outskirts of Pyongyang on Dec. 12, 2012. Kim issued the order for a rocket launch on Dec. 12, 2012, and stressed that "satellite" launches need to be continued, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported.

The surprising success of the launch may have earned Kim global condemnation, but at home, the gamble paid off, at least in the short term. To his people, it made the 20-something Kim appear powerful, capable and determined in the face of foreign adversaries.

Scientists and technicians work on their computers to control the launch of North Korea's Unha-3 rocket at the General Satellite Control and Command Center on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012, in Pyongyang, North Korea.

This picture received from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 12, 2012 shows an image of the satellite Kwangmyongsong-3, being monitored on a large screen at a satellite control center in Cholsan county, North Pyongan province in North Korea. Pyongyang confirmed it had launched a long-range rocket and succeeded in its mission of placing a satellite into orbit.

Wreckage from the North Korean rocket is seen at the Second Fleet Command's naval base on December 14, 2012 in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. The debris is the first stage of the long-range rocket that was launched on December 12.

poster with slogan which reads " Advance toward the final victory " in Pyongyang, North Korea Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012. — AP Photo/Kyodo News

A poster with a slogan which reads, "Advance toward the final victory," is seen in Pyongyang, North Korea Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012.

This undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central news Agency on November 27, 2012 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un during a photo session with participants in the national meeting of chiefs of branch social security stations at an undisclosed location in North Korea.

A triumphant North Korea staged a mass rally of soldiers and civilians Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, to glorify the country's young ruler.

North Koreans applaud near a slogan which reads "(We) fervently celebrate the successful launch of the second version of the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite 2nd version," during a mass rally organized to celebrate the success of a rocket launch that sent a satellite into space at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

North Koreans chant slogans and gesture to show their determination near giant portraits of the late leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il during a mass rally organized to celebrate the success of a rocket launch that sent a satellite into space, on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

North Korean soldiers attend a mass rally organized to celebrate the success of a rocket launch that sent a satellite into space, on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

Pyongyang said the rocket put a crop and weather monitoring satellite into orbit. Workers' Party Secretary Kim Ki Nam told the crowd, bundled up against a winter chill in the heart of the capital, that "hostile forces" had dubbed the launch a missile test. He denied the claim and called on North Koreans to stand their ground against the "cunning" critics.

North Korean soldiers applaud near slogans honoring their leadership during a mass rally organized to celebrate the success of a rocket launch that sent a satellite into space on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

North Korean soldiers applaud near a sign which reads "The great leader comrade Kim Jong Il" during a mass rally organized to celebrate the success of a rocket launch that sent a satellite into space on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

People participate in a rally in Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on Dec. 14, 2012, to celebrate North Korea's successful launch of an "Earth observation satellite" on Dec. 12. Japan, the United States and other countries suspect the launch was a covert test of long-range missile technology in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

North Korean soldiers applaud during a mass rally organized to celebrate the success of a rocket launch that sent a satellite into space on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

North Korean soldiers applaud near signs from left which reads "Revolutionary spirit," "Great leader comrade Kim Jong Un," and "Great leader," during a mass rally organized to celebrate the success of a rocket launch that sent a satellite into space, on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

"It makes me happy that our satellite is flying in space," Pyongyang citizen Jong Sun Hui said as Friday's ceremony came to a close and tens of thousands rushed into the streets, many linking arms as they went.

"The satellite launch demonstrated our strong power and the might of our science and technology once again," she told The Associated Press. "And it also clearly testifies that a thriving nation in our near future."

South Korean protesters burn a mock rocket and an effigy of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a rally against North Korea's rocket launch in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. South Korea says that a satellite North Korea launched aboard a long-range rocket is orbiting the Earth normally but it's unknown whether it is functioning properly.

A South Korean conservative activist cuts through a portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on a banner during a protest denouncing North Korea's rocket launch the day before, in Seoul on December 13, 2012.

In this picture taken in China's northeastern Liaoning province, a North Korean soldier stands guard northeast of the North Korean border town of Siniuju on December 13, 2012.

A portrait of the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung glows from a spotlight as dusk descends upon Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

By CBSNews.com senior editor David Morgan