North Korea successfully launched a rocket on Wednesday, boosting the credentials of its new leader and stepping up the threat the isolated and impoverished state poses to opponents.
North Korea successfully launched a rocket on Wednesday, boosting the credentials of its new leader and stepping up the threat the isolated and impoverished state poses to opponents.
The Unha-3 rocket, launched at 09:49 local time (00:49 GMT),according to defense officials in South Korea and Japan, and was more successful than a rocket launched in April that flew for less than two minutes.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said that it “deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit”, the first time an independent body has verified North Korean claims.
North Korea says a satellite has been placed in orbit; the US confirmed an object had been put into space.
South Korea, the US and Japan have condemned the launch as a disguised test of long-range missile technology.
A UN resolution passed in June 2009 after North Korea’s second nuclear test banned Pyongyang from ballistic missile tests.
The US called it a “highly provocative act that threatens regional security”, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it was a “clear violation” of the UN resolution.
North Korea’s “satellite launch” has come as a surprise on two counts. The first is that it came unannounced, just two days after Pyongyang extended its launch window, citing a “technical deficiency” in the first stage of its rocket.
The second is that it seems to have been a success. Both North Korea and US analysts seems to agree that the launch was indeed successful and that the rocket placed the satellite into orbit.
That is a vast improvement on North Korea’s previous launch attempt in April, when the rocket fell apart into the sea moments after take-off.
Crucially, too, this is the first time that North Korea’s claims of success have been backed by key international observers. But the technical success of the launch is about the only thing that Pyongyang and Washington agree on.
The US and its allies allege that North Korea’s satellite launches are in fact cover for a long-range missile programme, designed to develop weapons that could strike the US.
Japan has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Reports suggested this could take place later on Wednesday.
The launch comes a week ahead of the South Korean presidential election and roughly a year after the death of leader Kim Jong-il, on 17 December 2011.
‘Extremely regrettable’
The three-stage rocket was launched from a site on North Korea’s west coast.
“The launch of the second version of our Kwangmyongsong-3 [Unha-3] satellite from the Sohae Space Centre… on December 12 was successful,” state news agency KCNA said. “The satellite has entered the orbit as planned.”
The rocket had been scheduled to pass between the Korean peninsula and China, with a second stage coming down off the Philippines.
“The missile was tracked on a southerly azimuth [angle]. Initial indications are that the first stage fell into the Yellow Sea,” a North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) statement said.
The North says its work is part of a civil nuclear program although it has also boasted of it being a “nuclear weapons power”.
Source: Priyo
