North Korea today launched a long-range rocket that appears to
have disintegrated soon after blastoff and fallen into the ocean, South
Korean and Japanese authorities said.
South Korea’s defence ministry said the rocket was launched at 07:39 am (0409 IST).
“It seems that the rocket has failed,” ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok told journalists.
“A few minutes after the launch, the rocket disintegrated into
several pieces and lost its altitude,” he said, adding US and South
Korean officials were studying the trajectory.North Korea has said the rocket would place a satellite in orbit
for peaceful research purposes, but Western critics see the launch as a
thinly veiled ballistic missile test, banned by United Nations
resolutions.
North Korean officials had no immediate comment on reports of the
launch but said an announcement would be made before 9 am (local time).The UN Security Council will meet in emergency session today “to decide its next step” following the launch, a UN diplomat said.German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle quickly condemned the
launch, telling it was a “violation of international obligations and
will increase tensions on the Korean peninsula.”
Japan’s defence minister said that North Korea had launched a “flying object” that fell into the ocean after a short flight.“We have the information some sort of flying object had been launched
from North Korea” around 7:40am (0410 IST), Defence Minister Naoki
Tanaka told reporters
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