Nork Rocket Not Aimed at Hawaii This Time
REUTERS: The three-stage rocket's flight path will take it over the sea between the Korean peninsula and China, where the first stage is due to splash down. A second stage is due to land in waters off the Philippines.
CNN: North Korea launches rocket
CNN: Defying warnings from the international community, North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Friday, but it appears to have broken apart shortly afterward, U.S. officials said….
The rocket made it off the launch pad, but fell apart shortly afterward, two U.S. officials said….
In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney had said the launch would be a "significant and clear demonstration of bad faith" on the part of the North, making it impossible for the United States to follow through on the food-aid deal.
South Korea described the planned move as a "grave provocation" and said it would respond with "appropriate countermeasures." Meanwhile, the Philippines and South Korea ordered commercial planes and fishing boats to stay clear of the rocket's proposed path.
"This launch will give credence to the view that North Korean leaders see improved relations with the outside world as a threat to the existence of their system," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this week. "And recent history strongly suggests that additional provocations may follow."
A recent report from South Korean intelligence officials said that North Korea is planning a new nuclear test in the area where it staged previous atomic blasts.
The South Korean intelligence report noted that the two previous rocket launches that Pyongyang said were intended to put satellites into orbit were followed a few weeks or months later by nuclear tests.
The last time Pyongyang carried out what it described as a satellite launch, in April 2009, the U.N. Security Council condemned the action and demanded that it not be repeated.
N Korea reportedly fires rocket; Japan says it failed
AP:North Korea on Friday launched a long-range rocket, South Korea’s defense ministry and U.S. officials said, with Japan saying that the launch had appeared to have failed.
“North Korea launched a long-range rocket at 7:39 a.m.,” a South Korean defense ministry spokesman told AFP.
“U.S. and South Korean intelligence authorities are seeking to determine whether it was a successful launch,” he said.
Yonhap news agency also quoted a government source as saying that South Korea was tracking the rocket’s trajectory.
Meanwhile, Japanese authorities said that the North Korean “flying object” had fallen into the ocean.
Immediately after the launch, South Korea issued an order urging residents near the inter-Korean border to seek shelter to protect themselves from any debris that might fall from the rocket, Yonhap said.
US: We are Now Tracking Flight path
Yonhap News: North Korea defiantly fired off a long-range rocket Friday, officials said, in a move sure to spark strong international condemnations and escalate regional tensions.
The Unha-3 rocket took off from the Tongchang-ri launch site at 7:39 a.m., Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seook said, adding that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are trying to confirm whether the launch was successful.
"We're now tracking the flight path," an official said on condition of anonymity.
U.S. news cable channel CNN, citing a U.S. official, reported the launch ended in failure.