South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang Gyun said a South Korean Aegis-equipped destroyer detected the North Korean launch at 9:31 a.m. The rocket’s first stage fell off North Korea’s west coast at 9:32 a.m., and the rocket disappeared from South Korean radars at 9:36 a.m. off the southwestern coast.
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The DPRK launch of a long-range rocket was “a new flagrant violation of the UN Security Council’s resolutions”, it said, urging the worldwide community to take swift and decisive action.
The meeting was requested by South Korea, Japan and the United States to agree on a collective response to the launch.
And South Korean President Park Geun-hye called for strong sanctions as he branded the move “an unforgivable act of provocation”.
Yun also plans to hold a telephone conference with his USA counterpart John Kerry Sunday night, according to the foreign ministry.
China expressed regrets on the launch by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) of an earth observation satellite Sunday morning, calling for calm on the Korean Peninsula. Experts say that ballistic missiles and rockets in satellite launches share similar bodies, engines and other technology. The launch prompted South Korea and the United States to announce that they would explore the feasibility of deploying an advanced missile defence system in South Korea, which China and Russian Federation both oppose, “at the earliest possible date”.
But it has yet to demonstrate that it can produce nuclear bombs small enough to place on a missile, or missiles that can reliably deliver their bombs to faraway targets. In South Korea, the holiday begins on Sunday and extends through Wednesday.
He said the Americans had been pushing for tough new measures that went beyond targeting North Korea’s atomic weapons and missile programs, while China wanted any future steps to focus on the question of nonproliferation.
The North has repeatedly pledged to boost its nuclear capability, viewing its nuclear program as a powerful deterrent against what it claims is Washington’s hostile policy towards it. It was the fourth in a series of nuclear detonations following tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
Chinese support is crucial to adopting a new resolution for sanctions as it is one of the five permanent veto-wielding members of the council.
North Korea’s traditional allies, Russian Federation and China, were also critical of the launch. The United States has about 28,500 troops in South Korea.
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Speaking to reporters ahead of the closed-door session, France’s United Nations ambassador, Francois Delattre, described North Korea’s launch of a long-range rocket on Sunday as an “outrageous provocation”.
