N. Korea fires long-range rocket, draws international outcry

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with S. Korean government's statement, other details)
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, April 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korea went ahead with a controversial long-range
rocket launch on Sunday, prompting strong condemnation from South Korea and other
regional powers.
The South Korean government confirmed that the North fired off a multistage
rocket from a launch pad on its east coast 15 seconds past 11:30 a.m., and it
flew over Japan. The government called it a "provocative act" in breach of a U.N.
Security Council resolution that bars Pyongyang from all activity linked to its
ballistic missile program.
"The launch clearly violates the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718 and it is
a provocative act threatening stability and peace in Northeast Asia, despite any
countervailing claims by North Korea," Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said in a
statement.
The minister said his government and the international community are very
disappointed by the North's costly rocket launch amid a chronic food shortage in
the impoverished communist nation.
Yu, who chairs the country's minister-level security policy coordination meeting,
said South Korea will seek punitive measures in consultation with the U.N. and
related nations. Yu was to meet U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Kathleen Stephens later
Sunday to discuss a response to the launch, as South Korean military has been
placed on high alert.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to meet soon to discuss countermeasures at
Japan's request.
A senior South Korean foreign ministry official identified the North's rocket as
a "space vehicle" carrying a satellite.
"We believe North Korea fired a rocket carrying a satellite," the official said.
"However, it does not necessarily mean that the launch was a success."
Japanese media said, meanwhile, the first stage of the rocket splashed down in
waters near Japan's northwestern coast and the second stage fell into the Pacific
Ocean, as the North had previously notified international bodies. Japan made no
attempt to intercept the rocket.
The U.S. government also denounced the launch.
The U.S. will "take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it cannot
threaten the safety and security of other countries with impunity," U.S. State
Department spokesman Fred Lash said in Washington. "North's Korea's development,
deployment and proliferation of missiles, ballistic missile-related materials,
equipment and technologies pose a serious threat to the northeast Asia region and
to the international community."
Intelligence agencies around the region had been monitoring preparations for the
blast-off since Pyongyang announced last month that it would launch the Unha-2
rocket carrying the Kwangmyongsong-2, or Bright Star-2, experimental
communications satellite. Unha means galaxy in Korean.
North Korea's state media has not reported on Sunday's launch.
The North is prohibited from engaging in ballistic missile development under U.N.
Resolution 1718, adopted after its long-range missile and nuclear tests in 2006.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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