Nuclear-armed North Korea has shrugged off the uproar at its failed rocket launch and unveiled an apparently new missile, in what analysts see as an attempt to exert diplomatic leverage.

The 30-metre (100-foot) Unha-3 rocket intended to put a satellite into orbit disintegrated just two to three minutes after blast-off last Friday.

The UN Security Council "deplored" the launch and Washington scrapped plans to send 240,000 tonnes of food aid to Pyongyang.

Just two days later, at a major military parade on Sunday, the North put what seemed to be a new long-range missile on show.

Ham Hyeong-Pil of Seoul's Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said the weapon -- apparently longer than the North's existing Musudan mid-range missile -- seemed to be a new long-range missile.

"The Musudan, about 12 metres (40 feet) long, is believed to have a range of 3,000 to 4,000 kilometres (1,875-2,500 miles). But this one appears capable of reaching at least 1,000 kilometres further," Ham told AFP.

"It is certain that the North has developed a new long-range missile."

Christian Lardier, a specialist with the French magazine Air and Cosmos who watched the parade, told AFP it was a Taepodong-class missile about 20 metres long and the first stage was identical to that of the Unha fired Friday.

Choson Sinbo, a Japan newspaper which reflects Pyongyang's policy, said Monday the North will push to launch a bigger rocket than the Unha-3 as part of a five-year space programme despite last week's failure.

"Scientists and engineers will never give up," it said.

On Monday South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak accused the North of trying to develop a long-range missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Narushige Michishita, of Japan's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, said the display at the parade suggested the North plans to develop inter-continental ballistic missiles.

Michishita said the new missile currently had no military meaning because it was untested. And the North's existing missile technology would not give it enough range to threaten the US heartland.

"And yet, psychologically it certainly has an impact as the media are running stories on it, and the North may intend to use it for diplomatic pressure," he told AFP.

The North for years has used its missile and nuclear programmes as bargaining chips with the United States.

Bernard Loo, of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, also saw the new missile as a political card.

The North's three previous long-range rocket launches, in 1998, 2006 and 2009, ended in failure. These suggested there was nothing to worry about militarily from the new weapon, Loo said.

But much of its motivation for missile tests was a desire to gain leverage over South Korea and, more importantly, the United States.

"It's a political card more than anything else," Loo said, adding that the unveiling seemed deliberately timed following the failed satellite launch.

Tim Huxley, of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the object on show Sunday may have been a mock-up or dummy supposed to represent the rocket launched Friday.

It would not significantly change the security situation on the peninsula but "may serve to reinforce regionally and internationally a sense of the regime's obduracy".

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