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SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea launched a rocket that passed over Japan on Sunday, defying calls from world leaders to scrap a plan that has caused international alarm.
The Japanese government asked for an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council after the rocket flew over its territory.
State Department spokesman Fred Lash confirmed the launch, saying it occurred at 10:30 p.m. EDT Saturday.
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"We look on this as a provocative act," said Lash.
The rocket's second booster stage splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, Japan said, indicating the launch had been successful.
The Defense Ministry detected a "flying object" believed to be a rocket that was launched from North Korea, flew eastward and passed over northern Japan about seven minutes later, heading toward the Pacific Ocean.
Japan did not make any attempt to intercept it, as no debris fell onto the country, a ministry spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.
Japan had threatened to shoot down any debris from the rocket if the launch went wrong. It had positioned batteries of interceptor missiles on its coast and radar-equipped ships off its northern seas.
North Korea had informed international authorities that it planned to launch a rocket sometime between Saturday and Wednesday in order to put a satellite into orbit.
But the U.S., South Korea, Japan and others suspect it is a cover for testing a long-range Taepodong-2 missile for the North, which has nuclear weapons. Leaders from those countries had warned Pyongyang not to proceed with the planned rocket launch.
They fear such a test could be a first step toward putting a nuclear warhead on a missile capable of reaching Alaska and beyond.
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday the international community would take action if North Korea went ahead with the launch to show Pyongyang it could not act with impunity.
Impoverished North Korea, which for years has used military threats to wring concessions from regional powers, has said it is putting a satellite into orbit as part of a peaceful space program and threatened war if the rocket was intercepted.
Sunday is the second day in the April 4-8 timeframe the secretive North, which tested a nuclear device in 2006, had set for the launch. In its only previous test flight, in July 2006, the Taepodong-2 blew apart about 40 seconds after launch.
Poor weather and planning may have forced North Korea to delay the launch on Saturday, officials in Seoul said, after Pyongyang had reported preparations were complete and lift-off would take place soon.
Experts have said clear visibility would help North Korea, with limited radar capabilities, monitor the flight.
A boost for Kim
Analysts said the launch may help North Korean leader Kim Jong-il shore up support after a suspected stroke in August raised questions of his grip on power and bolster his hand in using military threats to win concessions from global powers.
The United States, Japan and South Korea will view the launch as a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution passed in 2006 after Pyongyang carried out the nuclear test and other missile tests.
That resolution, number 1718, demands North Korea "suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program."
U.N. Security Council diplomats have told Reuters on condition of anonymity that no country was considering imposing new sanctions but the starting point could be discussing a resolution for the stricter enforcement of earlier sanctions.
Both Russia and China, the latter the nearest the reclusive North has to a major ally, have made clear they would block new sanctions by the Council, where they have veto power.
As South Korea's president huddled with his Cabinet, his government urged citizens working at joint economic zones in North Korea and in Pyongyang to return home because of the "grave" tensions on the peninsula. More than 600 South Koreans left the North on Saturday, the Unification Ministry said.
A South Korean who works at a factory in the northern border town of Kaesong remained in North Korean custody after being detained Monday for allegedly denouncing the North's political system and inciting female North Korean employees to flee the communist country.
North Korea is also holding two American journalists accused of crossing into the country illegally from China and engaging in "hostile acts." Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture, will be indicted and put on trial, Pyongyang has said.
This report contains reports from United Press International and The Associated Press.
The Japanese government asked for an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council after the rocket flew over its territory.
State Department spokesman Fred Lash confirmed the launch, saying it occurred at 10:30 p.m. EDT Saturday.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here
"We look on this as a provocative act," said Lash.
The rocket's second booster stage splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, Japan said, indicating the launch had been successful.
The Defense Ministry detected a "flying object" believed to be a rocket that was launched from North Korea, flew eastward and passed over northern Japan about seven minutes later, heading toward the Pacific Ocean.
Japan did not make any attempt to intercept it, as no debris fell onto the country, a ministry spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.
Japan had threatened to shoot down any debris from the rocket if the launch went wrong. It had positioned batteries of interceptor missiles on its coast and radar-equipped ships off its northern seas.
North Korea had informed international authorities that it planned to launch a rocket sometime between Saturday and Wednesday in order to put a satellite into orbit.
But the U.S., South Korea, Japan and others suspect it is a cover for testing a long-range Taepodong-2 missile for the North, which has nuclear weapons. Leaders from those countries had warned Pyongyang not to proceed with the planned rocket launch.
They fear such a test could be a first step toward putting a nuclear warhead on a missile capable of reaching Alaska and beyond.
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday the international community would take action if North Korea went ahead with the launch to show Pyongyang it could not act with impunity.
Impoverished North Korea, which for years has used military threats to wring concessions from regional powers, has said it is putting a satellite into orbit as part of a peaceful space program and threatened war if the rocket was intercepted.
Sunday is the second day in the April 4-8 timeframe the secretive North, which tested a nuclear device in 2006, had set for the launch. In its only previous test flight, in July 2006, the Taepodong-2 blew apart about 40 seconds after launch.
Poor weather and planning may have forced North Korea to delay the launch on Saturday, officials in Seoul said, after Pyongyang had reported preparations were complete and lift-off would take place soon.
Experts have said clear visibility would help North Korea, with limited radar capabilities, monitor the flight.
A boost for Kim
Analysts said the launch may help North Korean leader Kim Jong-il shore up support after a suspected stroke in August raised questions of his grip on power and bolster his hand in using military threats to win concessions from global powers.
The United States, Japan and South Korea will view the launch as a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution passed in 2006 after Pyongyang carried out the nuclear test and other missile tests.
That resolution, number 1718, demands North Korea "suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program."
U.N. Security Council diplomats have told Reuters on condition of anonymity that no country was considering imposing new sanctions but the starting point could be discussing a resolution for the stricter enforcement of earlier sanctions.
Both Russia and China, the latter the nearest the reclusive North has to a major ally, have made clear they would block new sanctions by the Council, where they have veto power.
As South Korea's president huddled with his Cabinet, his government urged citizens working at joint economic zones in North Korea and in Pyongyang to return home because of the "grave" tensions on the peninsula. More than 600 South Koreans left the North on Saturday, the Unification Ministry said.
A South Korean who works at a factory in the northern border town of Kaesong remained in North Korean custody after being detained Monday for allegedly denouncing the North's political system and inciting female North Korean employees to flee the communist country.
North Korea is also holding two American journalists accused of crossing into the country illegally from China and engaging in "hostile acts." Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture, will be indicted and put on trial, Pyongyang has said.
This report contains reports from United Press International and The Associated Press.
