The location of the vehicle assembly building and launch pad at the North Korean missile facility at Musudan
North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative rocket launch Sunday that the U.S., Japan and other nations suspect was a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology.Liftoff took place at 11:30 a.m. (0230GMT) Sunday from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean and U.S. governments said. The multistage rocket hurtled toward the Pacific, reaching Japanese airspace within seven minutes, but no debris appeared to hit its territory, officials in Tokyo said.
The U.N. Security Council approved an emergency session for Sunday afternoon in New York, following a request from Japan that came minutes after the launch.The South Koreans called it "reckless," the Americans "provocative," and Japan said it strongly protested the launch.
North Korea claims its aim is to send an experimental communications satellite into orbit in a peaceful bid to develop its space program. It calls its "space launch vehicle" Unha-2, but the rocket is better known to the outside world as the Taepodong-2, a long-range missile that can be mounted with a satellite or nuclear armament .
The U.S., South Korea, Japan and others suspect the launch is a guise for testing the regime's long-range missile technology, one step toward eventually mounting a nuclear weapon on a missile capable of reaching Alaska and beyond. North Korea shocked Japan in 1998 when it launched a missile over Japan's main island. Japan has since spent billions of dollars on developing a missile shield with the United States and has launched a series of spy satellites primarily to watch developments in North Korea.
Japan had threatened to shoot down any debris from the rocket if the launch went wrong, and positioned batteries of interceptor missiles on its coast and radar-equipped ships off its northern seas to monitor the launch.
No attempt at interception was made since no debris fell onto its territory, a ministry spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.
Courtesy: Associated Press
Japan had threatened to shoot down any debris from the rocket if the launch went wrong, and positioned batteries of interceptor missiles on its coast and radar-equipped ships off its northern seas to monitor the launch.
No attempt at interception was made since no debris fell onto its territory, a ministry spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.
Courtesy: Associated Press
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