Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Milwaukiedave]

Not a lot of information yet, but it looks like they went through with it.

NKorea launches rocket, defying world pressure

By JEAN H. LEE, Associated Press Writer Jean H. Lee, Associated Press Writer
8 mins ago

SEOUL, South Korea � North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative rocket launch Sunday that the U.S., Japan and other nations suspect was a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology.

Liftoff took place at 11:30 a.m. (0230GMT) Sunday from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean government said. In Washington, the State Department also confirmed the launch.

The rocket flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese broadcaster NHK said, citing its government.

"Our primary concern is to confirm safety and gather information," Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso told a news conference at his Tokyo office Sunday.

Resisting calls from President Barack Obama, Aso and Hu Jintao of China to call off the launch, North Korea had announced Saturday that preparations were complete to send communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 on a multistage rocket bound for the skies over Japan.

Tokyo deployed warships and Patriot missile interceptors off its northern coast to shoot down any debris that the North said might fall over the area.

U.S. and South Korean warships equipped with missile interceptors also plied the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan to monitor the launch.

Russia, meanwhile, scrambled fighter jets to its Far East in case any debris hits its territory, Russian news reports said.

North Korea pushed ahead with the launch despite mounting international pressure to cancel a liftoff Obama warned Friday would be a "provocative" act.

South Korea, the U.S. and Japan said earlier in the week they would take North Korea to the U.N. Security Council for an act they say is banned under a 2006 resolution barring Pyongyang from ballistic activity.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_nkorea_missile

Edit: From other reports this launch does look like a sucessful one.

[cubanlord]

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/04/04/north.korea.rocket/index.html

[bassexpander]

Just curious where you heard it wasn't much of a success?

[cubanlord]

Here's the thing. The North said it was a Satellite test, yet, the freaking thing crashed into the Pacific. How are they going to deny the fact that it really was a missle test now?

I don't get it.

[bassexpander]

[MrRogers]

I can understand Japan not being very happy.






http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=151141&start=30

[agoodmouse]

Too bad it didn't get blown up on the launch site by Japan or another country.

[Huh Kyung-young]

[MrRogers]

they are really scary


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/world/asia/05korea.html?hp

[cubanlord]

[bassexpander]

[Forward Observer]

[MrRogers]

here's more from AP:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/05/world/AP-AS-NKorea-Missile.html

April 5, 2009
N. Korea Launches Rocket, Defying World Pressure
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:29 a.m. ET

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative rocket launch Sunday that the U.S., Japan and other nations suspect was a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology.

Liftoff took place at 11:30 a.m. (0230GMT) Sunday from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean and U.S. governments said. The multistage rocket hurtled toward the Pacific, reaching Japanese airspace within seven minutes, but no debris appeared to hit its territory, officials in Tokyo said.

The U.N. Security Council approved an emergency session for Sunday afternoon in New York, following a request from Japan that came minutes after the launch.

The South Koreans called it ''reckless,'' the Americans ''provocative,'' and Japan said it strongly protested the launch.

The launch was a bold act of defiance against President Barack Obama, Japanese leader Taro Aso, Hu Jintao of China and others who pressed Pyongyang in the days leading up to liftoff to call off a launch they said would threaten peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

South Korea's presidential Blue House said the launch poses a ''serious threat'' to stability on the Korean peninsula and that it would respond to the provocation ''sternly and resolutely.'' President Lee Myung-bak ordered the military to remain on alert, the Blue House said.

''We cannot contain our disappointment and regret over North Korea's reckless act,'' presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan told reporters Sunday. He said the launch of the long-range rocket ''poses a serious threat to security on the Korean peninsula and the world.''

North Korea claims its aim is to send an experimental communications satellite into orbit in a peaceful bid to develop its space program.

The U.S., South Korea, Japan and others suspect the launch is a guise for testing the regime's long-range missile technology -- one step toward eventually mounting a nuclear weapon on a missile capable of reaching Alaska and beyond.

They contend the launch violates a 2006 resolution barring the regime from ballistic missile activity.

Obama said Friday the launch would be a ''provocative'' move with consequences. State Department spokesman Fred Lash said late Saturday in Washington that the U.S. will ''take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it cannot threaten the safety and security of other countries with impunity.''

He called the launch a clear violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718, adopted five days after North Korea carried out a nuclear weapons test in 2006.

Japan's U.N. mission has asked for a meeting of the 15-nation council Sunday, spokesman Yutaka Arima said. Mexico's mission to the United Nations set the meeting for 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT), spokesman Marco Morales said. Mexico holds the 15-nation council's presidency this month.

U.N. diplomats already have begun discussing ways to affirm existing sanctions on North Korea against its nuclear program and long-range missile tests.

In Japan, chief Cabinet spokesman Takeo Kawamura said it was not immediately clear if the rocket was mounted with a satellite as North Korea has claimed.

North Korea calls its ''space launch vehicle'' Unha-2, but the rocket is better known to the outside world as the Taepodong-2, a long-range missile that can be mounted with a satellite or nuclear armament.

''Even if a satellite was launched, we see this as a ballistic missile test and we think this matter should be taken to the United Nations Security Council,'' Kawamura said. ''We are highly concerned by this matter.''

''We strongly protest this launch,'' he said.

The first stage of the rocket dropped about 175 miles (280 kilometers) off the western coast of Akita into the waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula. The second stage was to land in the Pacific at a spot about 790 miles (1,270 kilometers) off Japan's northeastern coast, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said in Tokyo.

Japan said it would convene a security panel meeting later in the day to discuss what further measures can be taken. Kawamura said Japan would work closely with Washington and with the U.N.

''Our primary concern is to confirm safety and gather information,'' Aso told a news conference at his Tokyo office Sunday.

North Korea shocked Japan in 1998 when it launched a missile over Japan's main island. Japan has since spent billions of dollars on developing a missile shield with the United States and has launched a series of spy satellites primarily to watch developments in North Korea.

Japan had threatened to shoot down any debris from the rocket if the launch went wrong, and positioned batteries of interceptor missiles on its coast and radar-equipped ships off its northern seas to monitor the launch.

No attempt at interception was made since no debris fell onto its territory, a ministry spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.------

Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Jae-soon Chang in Seoul, Eric Talmadge in Tokyo, Pete Yost in Washington and John Heilprin at the United Nations contributed to this report.

[cubanlord]

[itaewonguy]