North Korea Launches Rocket, Defying World Pressure
Saturday, April 04, 2009  


BREAKING NEWS —  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 10:30 p.m. EDT Saturday from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean government said. In Washington, the State Department also confirmed the launch.

"We look on this as a provocative act," U.S. State Department spokesman Fred Lash said.


The rocket flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese broadcaster NHK said, citing its government.

"Our primary concern is to confirm safety and gather information," Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso told a news conference at his Tokyo office Sunday.

Resisting calls from President Barack Obama, Aso and Hu Jintao of China to call off the launch, North Korea had announced Saturday that preparations were complete to send communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 on a multistage rocket bound for the skies over Japan.

Tokyo deployed warships and Patriot missile interceptors off its northern coast to shoot down any debris that the North said might fall over the area.

U.S. and South Korean warships equipped with missile interceptors also plied the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan to monitor the launch.

Russia, meanwhile, scrambled fighter jets to its Far East in case any debris hits its territory, Russian news reports said.

North Korea pushed ahead with the launch despite mounting international pressure to cancel a liftoff Obama warned Friday would be a "provocative" act.

South Korea, the U.S. and Japan said earlier in the week they would take North Korea to the U.N. Security Council for an act they say is banned under a 2006 resolution barring Pyongyang from ballistic activity.

What did you want the US to do?

Start the next Korean War by shooting it down?

The best thing we could do was let it launch and deal with N.K. after the launch.

Av.

We're probably not gonna do anything to them.

The good thing about this launch, if there is any thing good about it, is this; the stated objective from the north koreans as to how far their rocket would travel was far short of their goal.

They weren't even close.  Maybe next time eh?

BFC

Recent news states that it did NOT get into orbit.

They might have a bit more leverage if they built something that worked.

Av.

+1

Yup.....   By all accounts it was a failure, and by sitting back and letting em fail.......not only in their launch but in provoking a response.....N.K regime ends up on the back foot again.

It appears that they are getting better though.  The '98 launch was hilarious.



It's clear we didn't have many good options here.  You can't just shoot down an unarmed rocket that's stated as a satellite launch.  We all know that Satellite tech can be used for BM tech, but the reverse is true as well.



 

Obama will do nothing and will run to the UN for help in a meaningless resolution!

And we get to decide who is allowed to have a space program why?  Because we don't want them to have ballistic missiles like we do, or we don't want them to be able to launch satellites like we do?   Maybe we should not be so hypocritical and realize that other contries have as much right to develope these technologies as we do.  We should just quietly develope the technology to make their technology obsolete before they can finish it.

We did something, we apologized.
That is all.