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North Korea launches long-range rocket it claims is carrying a satellite North Korea launches long-range rocket and brings warning from US
(about 2 hours later)
North Korea has launched a long-range rocket carrying what it claims is a satellite in defiance of United Nations sanctions barring it from using ballistic missile technology. The US has warned of “serious consequences” after North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Sunday morning, in defiance of international sanctions banning it from using ballistic missile technology.
The United States, Japan and South Korea immediately requested an emergency meeting of the UN security council to discuss Sunday’s launch, council diplomats said. Pyongyang said the rocket was carrying an Earth observation satellite, but the US and its allies believe the regime uses satellite launches as covert tests of technology that could be used to develop a missile capable of striking the US mainland.
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The meeting was likely take place at 11am on Sunday (1600 GMT) in New York, they told Reuters. The United Nations security council was due to meet in New York on Sunday morning following a request for emergency talks by the US, South Korea and Japan.
North Korea had notified UN agencies that it planned to launch a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite, triggering opposition from governments that see it as a long-range missile test. It initially gave a 8-25 February time frame for the launch but changed that to 7-14 February on Saturday. North Korean state television said it would make a special announcement about the launch at noon local time noon, but did not elaborate.
The rocket was launched on a southward trajectory, as planned, passing over Japan’s southern Okinawa islands, Japan’s NHK news agency reported, and appeared to have successfully separated its first stage booster, South Korea’s Yonhap agency reported. The launch drew immediate condemnation from other countries in the region and from Washington. The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said it was “a flagrant violation of UN security council resolutions” banning Pyongyang from using ballistic missile technology.
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe called the launch “absolutely unacceptable”. The UN security council was already discussing a new round of sanctions against the regime following its fourth nuclear test last month.
The Pentagon said it was tracking the rocket launch but “did not believe it posed a threat to the US or its allies”. Kerry said the launch was “a major provocation, threatening not only the security of the Korean peninsula, but that of the region and the United States as well”. He reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad commitment to the defence of our allies,” including South Korea and Japan.
Last month, North Korea tested a nuclear device for the fourth time, although the United States and other governments have expressed doubt over the North’s claim that it exploded a hydrogen bomb. The US national security adviser, Susan Rice, called on the international community to show Pyongyang that its “reckless actions must have serious consequences.”
North Korea is believed to be working on miniaturising a nuclear warhead to mount on a missile, but many experts say it is some time away from perfecting such technology. “North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons programs represent serious threats to our interests including the security of some of our closest allies and undermine peace and security in the broader region,” she said.
It has shown off two versions of a ballistic missile resembling a type that could reach the west coast of the United States but there is no evidence the missiles have been tested. Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said the launch was “absolutely unacceptable” and a “clear violation” of UN security council resolutions, while the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, described it as “an unforgivable act of provocation”.
Isolated North Korea says it has a sovereign right to pursue a space programme. But it is barred under UN security council resolutions from using ballistic missile technology. China’s official Xinhua news agency said the launch would raise tensions in the region, adding that affected countries should respond calmly to prevent the Korean peninsula from descending into war.
It last launched a long-range rocket in December 2012, sending into orbit an object it described as a communications satellite. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency speculated that Sunday’s launch may have failed, but did not give details. Earlier, the country’s media had said the rocket appeared to have successfully separated the first and second stage boosters, with the first stage falling into the sea off the west coast of the Korean peninsula.
The launch took place between 9:30-9:35 am local time at the Sohae satellite launch centre in Tongchang-ri on the north-west coast of North Korea, reports said.
Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said debris from the multistage rocket had fallen about 250 kilometers (155 miles) off the southwest coast of the Korean peninsula into the East China Sea about 14 minutes after the launch.
Japan had deployed missile defence batteries on land and out at sea, with the country’s defence forces under orders to shoot down the rocket if it threatened Japanese territory.
NHK broke into normal programming to break news of the launch and showed live footage of Patriot missile batteries on the island of Okinawa. It also showed an object visible in the skies from Okinawa that was believed to be the rocket.
Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said no debris had fallen on Japanese territory.
The launch came a month after North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, although experts are highly sceptical of Pyongyang’s claim that the test involved a powerful hydrogen bomb.
Under Kim Jong-un, North Korea has stepped up attempts to build a long-range missile and miniaturise nuclear warheads, claiming that it has the right to develop a nuclear deterrent in the face of US hostility towards the regime.
Analysts said Kim had probably concluded that launching the rocket just weeks after the 6 January nuclear test would limit the UN’s ability to take dramatic punitive steps.
“North Korea likely calculates that a launch so soon after the nuclear test will probably only incrementally affect the UN sanctions arising from that test,” said Alison Evans, a senior analyst at IHS Jane’s.
North Korea is thought to have a small arsenal of atomic bombs, as well as short- and medium-range missiles, but experts believe it is still some way off developing warheads small enough to be mounted on a missile.
There are doubts, too, about the reliability of its long-range missile technology. “An ICBM warhead, unlike a satellite, needs to come down as well as go up,” said John Schilling, an aerospace engineer who has closely followed the North’s missile programme.
“North Korea has never demonstrated the ability to build a reentry vehicle that can survive at even half the speed an ICBM would require. If and when they do, what is presently a theoretical threat will become very real and alarming.”
Kim, who became leader in late 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, has overseen two of North Korea’s four nuclear tests as well as three long-range rocket tests.
The country last launched a long-range rocket in December 2012, sending into orbit an object it described as a communications satellite, although intelligence experts say the satellite never functioned properly.
North Korea had notified UN agencies on Saturday that it was moving the time frame for the launch forward to between 7 and 14 February. It had originally said the launch would take place between 8 and 25 February.