A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has deplored North Korea’s rocket launch, which he says is in violation of Security Council resolutions against Pyongyang’s use of ballistic missile technology.
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The rocket was sacked from a launch pad on North Korea’s west coast between 9.30am and 9.35am local time (1.00am-1.05am GMT) on a southern trajectory over the East China Sea.
This month’s launch also coincides with another key date: North Korea’s celebration of Kim Jong Il’s birthday February 16.
The Chinese ministry also urged “all relevant parties” to be calm and cautious, a stance which mirrors China’s efforts to take the edge off the widening punitive global actions.
The South Korean government couldn’t immediately confirm reports by Yonhap news agency and YTN TV that the rocket might have failed.
The U.N. Security Council prohibits North Korea from nuclear and ballistic missile activity.
Condemnation was swift, with the United States calling the launch “destabilising” and provocative, while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe slammed it as “absolutely intolerable”.
North Korea claims to have successfully put four satellites into orbit.
A North Korean flag flies in the propaganda village of Gijungdong as a US Army soldier stands guard at Taesungdong freedom village, South Korea.
North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Sunday carrying what it has called a satellite, but its neighbours and Washington denounced the launch as a missile test, conducted in defiance of United Nations sanctions and just weeks after a nuclear bomb test.
Kerry says this is the second time in just over a month that North Korea has chosen to conduct “a major provocation, threatening not only the security of the Korean Peninsula, but that of the region and the United States as well”.
After several failures testing a multistage, long-range rocket, it put its first satellite into space with a long-range rocket launched in December 2012.
The U.N. Security Council was likely to hold an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the launch, at the request of the United States, Japan and South Korea, diplomats said.
“Despite the change of plan, we will take appropriate measures to secure the safety of the people under any circumstance”, Defence Minister Gen Nakatani told a press briefing late Saturday, adding that there was no change to the possible areas of Japan’s territory that might be affected.
Asked how he would respond to North Korea’s provocations, Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said he would authorize a pre-emptive strike against such rockets if it was necessary to keep America safe.
Still, with the repeated tests and launches, Kim has shown that he is intent on proceeding with his “byungjin” policy of developing the nuclear program and the economy simultaneously.
The countries will expand their joint military drills this year to the biggest-ever scale, while Seoul will increase its retaliatory psychological warfare operation along inter-Korean border that blasts anti-North Korea messages, according to the countries.
The Foreign Office has “strongly” condemned North Korea’s launch of a long-range rocket thought to have been a test of its ballistic missile technology.
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North Korea’s chief diplomatic ally, China, has been resisting the United States push for tougher sanctions against Pyongyang.
