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| The sun rises above the Pyongyang city skyline in North Korea on Friday. (AFP Photo) |
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Pyongyang.
North Korea admitted on Friday that its heralded long-range rocket launch had
failed, disintegrating mid-air and plunging into the sea soon after takeoff in
a major embarrassment for the reclusive state.
Defying
international warnings, the North went ahead with what it termed a launch to
put a peaceful satellite into orbit, drawing condemnation from world leaders
who said the “provocative” act threatened regional security.
Some four
hours after the rocket reportedly exploded over the Yellow Sea, it admitted the
satellite had failed to enter orbit, adding “scientists, technicians and
experts are now looking into the cause of the failure.”
The US and
its allies, who condemned the exercise as a disguised ballistic missile test
banned by United Nations resolutions, reacted strongly.
“North
Korea is only further isolating itself by engaging in provocative acts, and is
wasting its money on weapons and propaganda displays while the North Korean
people go hungry,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
South
Korea’s defence ministry said the rocket, which lifted off at 07:39 a.m., “flew
about one or two minutes before it exploded mid-air.”
“We are
keeping a close watch over the North for further provocative acts such as
missile tests and a nuclear test,” the ministry said, referring to fears the
launch could be followed by North Korea’s third atomic test.
The South’s
foreign minister Kim Sung-Hwan said Friday’s actions were a “clear breach of
the UN resolution that prohibits any launch using ballistic missile technology.
It is a provocative act threatening peace and security.”
Japan’s
Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura also condemned the move.
“Even if it
was a failure, it is a grave provocation to our country and other countries
concerned and violates UN Security Council resolutions,” he said.
The North
American Aerospace Command (NORAD) said that together with the US military’s
Northern Command it “detected and tracked a launch of the North Korean
Taepodong-2 missile.”
It said
initial findings indicated the rocket’s first stage fell into the sea 165
kilometers west of the South Korean capital Seoul.
“The
remaining stages were assessed to have failed and no debris fell on land,” it
said. “At no time were the missile or the resultant debris a threat.”
The Group
of Eight powers led criticism of the launch and said they would consider taking
“appropriate actions” at the UN Security Council, which will meet later Friday.
The preparations
for the launch had triggered regional alarm in recent days.
Tokyo
deployed missile defence systems to intercept and destroy the rocket if it
looked set to fall on Japan, and flights were diverted to avoid being in the
Pacific area where debris from the rocket was expected to fall.
North Korea
had insisted the launch would not be a banned missile test and that it had
every right to send the satellite up, to mark Sunday’s centenary of the birth
of its founding leader Kim Il-Sung.
The
30-metre (100-foot) Unha-3 (Galaxy-3) rocket had been positioned at a newly
built space centre on the northwestern Yellow Sea coast.
North Korea
has invited up to 200 foreign journalists to Pyongyang for the launch and the
weekend commemorations, the largest number of overseas media ever welcomed in
to the reclusive state.
The nation
is in the midst of cementing a power transition between late leader Kim Jong-Il
who died last December and his untested son Kim Jong-Un, who is aged in his
late 20s.
“Obviously
the rocket launch is pretty embarrassing for Kim Jung-Un and North Korea,” said
Tate Nurkin, managing director at leading defence publication IHS Jane’s, in an
emailed comment.
“The timing
of it is significant. North Korea is all about ceremony and stature and grand,
symbolic gestures and they celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim
Il-Sung.”
The
Security Council has ordered an emergency meeting for Friday to condemn North
Korea’s actions, but is unlikely to order immediate new sanctions against the
isolated state.
Japan and
South Korea would like tougher measures against the hardline state, which
already faces UN sanctions over its two nuclear tests. But fears the North is
preparing a new nuclear test have clouded diplomatic outrage.
“We have to
hold our fire. This was bad, but we have to expect worse to come,” said one
senior UN envoy, referring to reports of a new underground nuclear test in the
making.
The North,
which is believed to have enough plutonium for six to eight bombs, tested
atomic weapons in October 2006 and May 2009. Both were held one to three months
after missile tests.
China, a
key diplomatic ally of North Korea which had called on all parties to “exercise
restraint” ahead of the launch, was yet to comment on the launch Friday several
hours after it was confirmed.
Agence France-Presse
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Channel: Wanderer of the Skies - April 14, 2012
Rocket to cost N. Korea equivalent of feeding 19 mil. for 1 year
Channel: Wanderer of the Skies - April 14, 2012
“… Indeed,
we have had our hand in the rocket launch recently making news and it is now
abundantly clear that there can be no reprisal from rogue military operations
on our actions in the world. While fear mongering will cause many to focus on
nuclear weapons and their potential use in terrorist activities, we say, as we
have always advised, that there is nothing to fear at all…..” New !
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