The U.N. Security Council held an urgent meeting Sunday in response to the satellite launch and concluded that North Korea violated U.N resolutions banning it from developing its nuclear program.
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Meanwhile, the U.S. Strategic Command said that its systems had detected and tracked what it believed to be a North Korean missile launch into space.
The UN Security Council prohibits North Korea from nuclear and ballistic missile activity. The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned the move, saying Sunday they plan to take significant measures to respond.
The DPRK said Sunday that it had successfully launched a Kwangmyongsong-4 Earth observation satellite into orbit less than 10 minutes after liftoff at 9:30 a.m. (0030 GMT), about a month after Pyongyang claimed it had successfully its first hydrogen bomb. South Korea, Japan and United States view the satellite launch as a cover for testing an intercontinental ballistic missile. Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said in November that Japan was considering the deployment of THAAD to counter any potential strike from North Korea.
While THAAD could be a deterrent against Kim’s regime, it would also raise the stakes for security in a region where suspicions already run high over Japan’s military aggression during World War II and a later conflict that split the Korean Peninsula between an isolated, unpredictable regime in the north and what is now a democracy in the south.
“North Korea likely calculates that a launch so soon after the nuclear test will probably only incrementally affect the United Nations sanctions arising from that test”, said Alison Evans, a senior analyst at IHS Jane’s.
“We hope that the future of our space technology keeps growing and shines like these fireworks in the sky”, an announcer on the North Korean broadcaster said during coverage of the celebrations in the capital.
For North Korea’s propaganda machine, the long-range rocket launch Sunday carved a glorious trail of “fascinating vapour” through the clear blue sky. A US official said it might take days to assess whether the launch was a success.
Cheong Wa Dae said that President Park Geun-hye will be briefed by her aides on signs of additional provocations by North Korea though she has no official schedule on Lunar New Year’s Day.
How close is North Korea to miniaturizing a warhead?
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Pyongyang said it fired the rocket to place a satellite in orbit – but critics believe the real objective was to test a ballistic missile. But if they have both of them, that means they can attack any target on Earth.
