Hours after a failed rocket launch criticized abroad as a covert test of missile technology, North Korea's new leader underlined the country's "military first" policy with a budget that allocates a sizable chunk of funding to defense spending. 
 
 Military members attend a mass meeting of North Korea's ruling party at a stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Saturday, April 14, 2012. North Korea will mark the 100-year birth anniversary of the late... (Associated Press) 
 
 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, walks past reflections of North Korean military officers clapping during a mass meeting of North Korea's ruling party at a stadium in Pyongyang, on Saturday April 14,... (Associated Press) 
 
 A crowd of North Korean military members clap in a stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, during a mass meeting called North Korea's ruling party on Saturday, April 14, 2012. North Korea will mark the 100th... (Associated Press) 
 
 A North Korean female soldier adjusts her hair during a mass meeting of North Korea's ruling party at a stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Saturday April 14, 2012. North Korea will mark the 100-year... (Associated Press) 
 
 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left waves as North Korean military officers clap in a stadium in Pyongyang during a mass meeting called by the Central Committee of North Korea's ruling party on Saturday... (Associated Press) 
 
 North Korean military members attend a mass meeting of North Korea's ruling party at a stadium in Pyongyang on Saturday April 14, 2012. North Korea will mark the 100-year birth anniversary of the late... (Associated Press) 
 
 North Korea's legislature also formalized Kim Jong Un's leadership of the country and promoted a host of younger military officials to the powerful National Defense Commission, state-run media reported Saturday, in a strong indication that the "military first" rule of the late Kim Jong Il will continue under his young son. 
 
 Still, Premier Choe Yong Rim told legislators the nation's top priority is to build up the economy and improve the people's standard of living, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. 
 
 North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly convened Friday for a special one-day session to ratify appointments and promotions, discuss this year's budget and to make constitutional amendments to formalize Kim Jong Un's leadership of the country. 
 
 Hours earlier, in a precursor to the gathering, North Korea defied the U.S. and others by firing a long-range rocket that space officials said was mounted with an observational satellite despite warnings against pushing ahead with the provocative launch. 
 
 In a rare admission, North Korea announced on state TV that the bid was a failure, with the satellite failing to reach orbit. 
 
 International condemnation was swift, including the suspension of U.S. food aid, and there are concerns that the North's next move could be even more provocative: a nuclear test. 
 
 The U.N. Security Council denounced the launch as a violation of resolutions that prohibit North Korea from developing its nuclear and missile programs. The council imposed sanctions on North Korea after its first nuclear test in 2006 and stepped up sanctions after its second in 2009. 
 
 U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the launch "deplorable" and urged North Korea "not to undertake any further provocative actions that will heighten tension in the region," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said. 
 
 President Barack Obama said North Korea's failed rocket launch shows the country is wasting money on rockets that "don't work" while its people go hungry. He said the U.S. will work with other nations to "further isolate" North Korea. 
 
 North Korea spent an estimated $850 million to build the rocket and a new west coast launch pad, South Korea's Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik said at a parliamentary hearing Friday. The World Food Program says at least 6 million North Koreans _ a quarter of the population _ need outside food aid to supplement diminishing state-supplied rations. 
 
 North Korea had trumpeted the launch of its Kwangmyongsong, or Bright Shining Star, satellite as a civilian scientific achievement and a gift for late North Korea founder Kim Il Sung _ Kim Jong Un's grandfather _ in the run-up to celebrations marking his 100th birthday Sunday. 
 
 Space official Ryu Kum Chol told reporters earlier in the week that the satellite was designed to send back data about weather conditions and conduct landscape surveys to help pinpoint natural resources. 
 
 However, experts say the Unha-3 carrier is the same type of prohibited rocket that would be used to strike the U.S. and other targets with a long-range missile. 
 
 On Saturday, South Korea's Navy deployed about 10 warships to scour the Yellow Sea in search of rocket debris, a Defense Ministry official said. He refused to provide further details and asked not to be named because the sensitive mission was still under way. 
 
 U.S. Navy minesweepers and other ships are expected to join the search, which could offer evidence of what went wrong and provide details about North Korea's rocket technology. 
 
 In Pyongyang, meanwhile, Kim Jong Un was made first secretary of the National Defense Commission, a post formally making him the nation's leader. Joining him on the commission were three new, relatively younger, officials in the first major reshuffle of the body since Kim, who is believed to be in his late 20s, took power four months ago following his father's death. 
 
 The legislature also approved setting aside 15.8 percent of the budget for defense _ roughly the same amount as the past two years, confirmation that resources will continue to be pumped into the military under Kim Jong Un. 
 
 However, the premier said the focus will rest on improving the economy. 
 
 "This year the Cabinet will concentrate all efforts on light industry and agriculture and lay a solid foundation for building an economic power," Choe told legislators, according to KCNA. 
 
 The appointments follow key changes in the makeup of the leadership of the ruling Workers' Party on Wednesday. 
 
 On Saturday, tens of thousands _ soldiers, party officials and ordinary citizens being honored for doing exceptional work this year _ gathered at Kim Il Sung Stadium for a rally in honor of Kim Il Sung's 100th birthday. 
 
 They closed by chanting "Kim Jong Un, defend him to the death," as Kim watched and waved from a viewing platform. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea; Robert Burns, Matthew Pennington and Wendy Benjaminson in Washington; and Edith Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report. ||||| On reflection, not the most auspicious date for a crucial rocket launch, supposed to show the world that North Korea is now a great and prosperous nation – their official slogan, despite mass malnutrition – boasting world-class space technology. 
 
 The Kim regime has never lacked chutzpah. It must have known this was high-risk. After all, two earlier rockets – identical to a Taepodong ICBM, hence the world's concern – in 1998 and 2009 flew far, but failed to put satellites in orbit as Pyongyang claimed. Another missile in 2006 exploded 40 seconds after launch. Yesterday's did a bit better: it lasted 90 seconds. 
 
 At least this time the regime told its people, which is progress. Admissions of failure are rare indeed in Pyongyang, and this one could not have been worse timed. The centenary of North Korea's founding 'Great Leader' Kim Il-sung – born 15 April 1912, just as the Titanic sank – has seen giant new statues unveiled of him and his son, the late 'Dear Leader' Kim Jong-il. 
 
 This is a backdrop to anointing the third and latest Kim. Back-to-back meetings of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and the Supreme People's Assembly (the rubber-stamp parliament) have seen the young Kim Jong-un festooned with titles: WPK first secretary, chairman of the Central Military Commission, chairman of the National Defence Commission and so on. 
 
 Egg on face, and loss of face, were definitely not part of this coronation script. The fear now must be that Kim will feel obliged to find some other explosive way to show the world he is not to be trifled with. Spy satellites had already detected fresh digging at North Korea's main nuclear site. Twice before, in 2006 and 2009, missile tests were followed within months by nuclear tests: an even more serious menace. This could well be third time unlucky. 
 
 * Aidan Foster-Carter is Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology and Modern Korea, Leeds University ||||| Disasters are a regular part of rocket science, as demonstrated by the American experience with its Vanguard program. 
 
 That slim rocket was meant to launch the nation’s first satellite into orbit. But starting in August 1957, four static firings of its engines failed. Pressure soared as Moscow successfully sent its first satellite into orbit that October. 
 
 Reporters descended on Cape Canaveral, Fla. On Dec. 6, the countdown reached zero, and Vanguard lifted off the launching pad. It rose four feet before settling back in a churning ball of smoke and fire. 
 
 The Vanguard satellite fell clear and “came comfortably to rest nearby, chirping innocently,” according to “The Heavens and the Earth,” a history of the early days of the American space program. Early the following year, the United States was able to launch a satellite with a different rocket, and less than three months later, finally managed a successful Vanguard launch. 
 
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 If the United States can learn from failure, maybe North Korea can, too. It needs to, after 14 years of failures in the development of rockets powerful enough to loft a satellite — particularly when its secretive leadership encourages its impoverished people to indulge in grandiose expectations. 
 
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 In interviews, aerospace experts said major setbacks are a normal part of rocket programs and can produce crucial information for engineers struggling to identify problems and make improvements.
– If at first you don't succeed, bomb, bomb again. In the wake of its failed rocket launch, North Korea is doubling down on its "military-first" policy, promoting 20-something Kim Jong Un to first secretary of the powerful National Defense Commission—that officially makes him the country's leader, reports the AP. In a special session yesterday, North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly also promoted several younger leaders in the National Defense Commission and dedicated 15.8% of the national budget to the military—about the same as the last two years. As for what went wrong with the missile: Despite using similar designs as Iran, which successfully put a satellite into orbit in 2009, North Korea continues to struggle with its missiles, suggesting quality control problems, says the New York Times. “Their overall design seems to make sense,” said one scientist. “But mundane sorts of things might get in the way, such as welding.” In the meantime, the South Korean navy sent about 10 ships into the Yellow Sea to look for debris from the North's rocket, reports the AP. Korea expert Aidan Foster-Carter notes in the Telegraph that North Korea's last two missile tests were soon followed by nuclear tests. "This could well be third time unlucky."