North Korea's rocket passes over Japan

April 5, 2009

North Korea rocket launch

Rocket passes over Japan

This satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows a missile on the launchpad at Musudan-ni, North Korea, formally known as Taepodong missile launch facility. The image was collected Sunday March 29, 2009. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOKYO/SEOUL - NORTH Korea launched a long-range rocket over Japan on Sunday, drawing swift international condemnation and triggering an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

Washington said it would take steps to let the reclusive North know it could not threaten regional security. South Korea called the launch of the rocket, seen by many powers as a disguised missile test, a 'reckless' act.

SKorea calls emergency UN meeting UNITED NATIONS/TOKYO - JAPAN'S UN ambassador on Saturday requested an emergency meeting of the Security Council to discuss North Korea's rocket launch. No time for the meeting was announced, but it could take place as soon as Sunday. Security Council diplomats said arranging such a meeting usually takes at least half a day. ... more No reports of debris falling SEOUL - SOUTH Korea's presidential office has confirmed North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket launch from its east coast base. The Blue House says liftoff took place at 11.30 am (10.30am Singapore time) ... more Facts on NKorea's missile arsenal SEOUL - NORTH Korea, which fired a long-range rocket on Sunday, has for decades been developing missiles both for what it terms self-defence and as a lucrative export commodity. The hardline communist North said it was launching a communications satellite as part of a peaceful space programme, and the South Korean government said a satellite was aboard the rocket. ... more

'The launch by the North Koreans is seen as a provocative act and will prompt the United States to take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it cannot threaten the safety and security of (other) countries with impunity,' State Department spokesman Fred Lash told reporters in a conference call.

Japan said it stopped monitoring the Taepodong-2 rocket after it had passed 2,100 km (1,305 miles) east of Tokyo, indicating the launch had been a success. In its only previous test flight, in July 2006, the rocket blew apart 40 seconds after launch.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a government official in Seoul as saying the rocket appeared to have carried a satellite, which Pyongyang had insisted was its plan.

The United States, South Korea and Japan had said the launch would actually be the test of the Taepodong-2, which is designed to carry a warhead as far as Alaska. It has an estimated range of 6,700 km (4,200 miles).

Sunday was the second day in the April 4-8 timeframe the secretive North, which tested a nuclear device in 2006, had set for the launch.

The first rocket booster stage appeared to drop into the Sea of Japan, an estimated 280 km (170 miles) west of the northern Japan coast, the prime minister's office said in a statement.

The second piece appeared to fall into the Pacific Ocean.

Stephen Bosworth, Washington's special envoy for North Korea, last week suggested the launch was a foregone conclusion and that he hoped to bring the North back to six-party talks on ending its nuclear programmes once the 'dust' had settled over the launch.

While saying the talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States were central to efforts to get North Korea to give up its nuclear programme, he also said Washington was ready for direct contact with Pyongyang at any time.

The six-party talks stalled in December and Pyongyang has threatened to quit the dialogue if the United Nations imposes any punishment over its rocket launch. -- REUTERS

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