SEOUL – North Korea launched a multi-stage rocket Sunday in defiance of international pressure. The rocket passed safely across Japan and over the Pacific Ocean, Japanese authorities said.
The rocket lifted off shortly after 11:30 a.m. local time from a military site in a rural area called Musudan-ri, near the town of Hwadae, on the country's northeast coast, then arced over the Sea of Japan and Pacific Ocean.
Associated Press
A missile is shown on the launchpad at Musudan-ni, North Korea, formally know as Taepo-dong missle launch facility.
There was no immediate word how far the rocket flew or if it made it to space to deliver a satellite, as North Korea said it intended.
The rocket is the newest step in a program of advanced-weapons development that North Korea's authoritarian government uses to maintain power and force payments from other countries.
For the United States, the launch presents the new administration of President Barack Obama with its first test of whether it can rally the international community to punish a rogue regime.
Military experts in the U.S., Japan, South Korea and elsewhere monitored the launch to determine whether the rocket was actually a long-range missile.
About 15 minutes after the launch, Japanese authorities reported that the second of the rocket's three stages appeared to splash down in the Pacific Ocean east of Japan. The first stage earlier landed in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, as forecast in a launch plan announced by North Korea several weeks ago.
North Korea made no immediate announcement about the launch, but authorities in Japan provided virtually a real-time description of it. Officials in South Korea and the U.S. subsequently confirmed it.
The rocket lifted off shortly after 11:30 a.m. local time from a military site in a rural area called Musudan-ri, near the town of Hwadae, on the country's northeast coast, then arced over the Sea of Japan and Pacific Ocean.
Associated Press
A missile is shown on the launchpad at Musudan-ni, North Korea, formally know as Taepo-dong missle launch facility.
There was no immediate word how far the rocket flew or if it made it to space to deliver a satellite, as North Korea said it intended.
The rocket is the newest step in a program of advanced-weapons development that North Korea's authoritarian government uses to maintain power and force payments from other countries.
For the United States, the launch presents the new administration of President Barack Obama with its first test of whether it can rally the international community to punish a rogue regime.
Military experts in the U.S., Japan, South Korea and elsewhere monitored the launch to determine whether the rocket was actually a long-range missile.
About 15 minutes after the launch, Japanese authorities reported that the second of the rocket's three stages appeared to splash down in the Pacific Ocean east of Japan. The first stage earlier landed in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, as forecast in a launch plan announced by North Korea several weeks ago.
North Korea made no immediate announcement about the launch, but authorities in Japan provided virtually a real-time description of it. Officials in South Korea and the U.S. subsequently confirmed it.
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