North Korea is banned under UN Security Council resolutions from testing a rocket by use of ballistic missile technology and staging a nuclear test. Pyongyang detonated atomic devices in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
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United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon called the North’s actions “deeply deplorable” and demanded it “halt its provocative actions and return to compliance with its worldwide obligations”.
“We will continue to work with our partners and members of the UN Security Council on significant measures to hold the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea/North Korea] to account”, he said.
North Korea provoked global criticism earlier this year with a fourth nuclear bomb test on 6 January.
It’s nearly certain that the North will be slapped with fresh United Nations sanctions for the launch.
South Korean opposition lawmaker Shin Kyung-min, who attended a closed-door briefing by the National Intelligence Service following Sunday’s launch, said the NIS believes that the rocket’s payload satellite was about twice as heavy as the 100-kilogram (220-pound) satellite it launched in 2012.
“South Korea and the US are jointly studying whether the disappearance means the launch was a failure or there were other technical issues”, a JCS official said.
No civilian damage in South Korea has been reported from aircrafts and shipping.
The announcer says North Korea will launch more satellites.
The launch “is yet another example of the North Korean regime choosing militarism and isolation over the welfare of its own people”, said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye called the launch a “challenge to world peace”, while her government announced it would begin talks with the U.S.to deploy a defense system called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, which can intercept missiles in flight.
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.
“No one should doubt that US Pacific Command forces are prepared to protect the American homeland and defend our allies in South Korea and Japan”, said Pacific Command spokesman US Air Force Captain Cody Chiles.
Initially, the North proclaimed the rocket would be fired sometime between February 8 and 25, but it advanced the launch window to February 7-14 on Saturday.
The nuclear device also needs to be tough enough to be able to withstand the flight on a ballistic missile, experts say, and be housed in a “reentry vehicle” that can endure the intense heat generated by coming back into Earth’s atmosphere.
China today “expressed regret” over North Korea’s launch of a long-range rocket, after Pyongyang said it successfully put a satellite into orbit.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also called the launch “absolutely unacceptable”.
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According to Japan’s NHK broadcaster, the Japanese government said the rocket passed over the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.
