(MENAFN- Asia Times) (From agencies)
North Korea launched a long-range rocket from its northwest Dongchang-ri launch siteSunday in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.
Seoul is characterizing the launch as a “failure” with South Korean military officials saying key parts of the rocket disappeared from radar screens as it tracked the event. Various South Korean and Japanese-language news reports also suggest Pyongyang’s missile broke up in flight.
A Japanese official told a national press conference that no attempt was made by Japan’s military to shoot down the missile.
Yonhap quoting official Japanese sources reported the rocket separated into five parts after take off and that four parts fell into the sea. The fifth piece is said to have flown southwards towards an unknown destination. The Korean news agencyreported earlier that the first stage of the missile booster had fallen into the Yellow Sea. The fairing or nose cone used to protect its payload issaid to have fallen into the sea southwest of South Korea’s Cheju Island.
Japan’s Asahi Shimbun said in a late report that the missile’s second stage fell short of its intended mark.
There are no reports of damage from the North Korean launch.
The rocket was reportedly launched on a southward trajectory as planned passing over Japanese air space in the southern Okinawa islands Japan’s NHK reported and appeared to have successfully separated its first stage booster South Korea’s Yonhap said.
The White House has condemned the North Korean test as a “flagrant” violation of the UN resolution. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the launch “absolutely unacceptable.”
The Pentagon has announced that the North Korean missile test poses no danger to the US.
North Korean State radio meanwhile has told its citizens to standby for “big news.”
The communist country has said the launch will put an earth observation satellite into orbit but the outside world views it as cover for testing an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Initially the North proclaimed the rocket would be fired sometime between Feb. 8 and 25 but it advanced the launch window to Feb. 7-14 on Saturday.
It is the sixth long-range missile test by the North in its program to develop nuclear-loaded ICBMs.
The missile fired on Sunday is believed to have been designed to have a range of more than 10000 kilometers which could allow it to reach the mainland US and hit major US cities.
US and South Korean defense analysts believe Pyongyang is attempting to miniaturize a nuclear warhead that can be mounted on a long-range rocket but most believe the North is still a ways from perfecting such technology.
North Korea has publicly displayed two versions of a ballistic missile that might be capable of hitting the US West Coast but it isn’t clear if the rockets will work.
Pyongyang maintains it has a sovereign right to pursue a space program. But it is barred under UN Security Council resolutions from using ballistic missile technology.
It last launched a long-range rocket in December 2012 sending into orbit an object it described as a communications satellite.
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