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SEOUL: North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Sunday, defying months of pressure from the US and its allies over what they said was an illegal missile test and jangling nerves across the region.
US President Barack Obama called for a strong international response, with the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting later in the day, while South Korea denounced it as a "reckless" threat to world security.
For several tense minutes, the rocket flew through the airspace of Japan, which had given its military authority to shoot down any threat to its soil -- something the North Koreans had warned would be seen as an act of war.
But Japan said the booster rockets fell harmlessly into the water, while the United States and Seoul said the launch had failed to get its payload into orbit.
Pyongyang, which for weeks insisted on its right to the peaceful use of space, said it put a communications satellite into orbit that was broadcasting "immortal revolutionary songs" and anthems praising leader Kim Jong-Il.
"The launch vehicle and satellite, developed by our own technology, is a proud fruit of our struggle to bring the nation's space technology to a higher level," the official KCNA news agency said hours after the 0230 GMT launch.
But the US North American Aerospace Defence Command and the US Northern Command denied the secretive communist regime's claim.
"Stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan," also known as the East Sea, they said.
"The remaining stages along with the payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean," they said. "No object entered orbit."
South Korean Defence Minister Lee Sang-Hee also said the North had failed, telling parliament that "all three stages of the rocket fell into the sea".
Ultimately what concerned the US and its allies was less the payload than the rocket carrying it, which Obama said was a Taepodong-2 -- the North's longest-range missile, capable in theory of reaching US soil in Alaska or Hawaii.
The US president appealed to the world to send Pyongyang a strong response, including at a Security Council meeting set for later in the day (1900 GMT).
"This action demands a response from the international community, including from the United Nations Security Council to demonstrate that its resolution cannot be defied with impunity," he said.
"Rules must be binding, violations must be punished, words must mean something," Obama said in a speech in Prague on ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
The North tested the Taepodong-2, which has an estimated range of 4,100 miles (6,700 kilometres), and an atomic bomb in 2006, during six-nation disarmament talks.
The Security Council then passed Resolution 1718, which imposed sanctions on the North, and warned against further nuclear or missile tests.
Pyongyang has said that any new referral to the Council now would all but spell the end of the long-running disarmament negotiations.
The foreign minister of China, North Korea's closest ally, on Sunday urged restraint to avoid further tension.
"Relevant parties must... avoid taking actions that could make the situation even more tense," Yang Jiechi said in a statement on the foreign ministry website.
Japan was expected to toughen its own sanctions against North Korea but analysts said they suspected the Security Council would not do so because of China and Russia, which both have veto power on the Council.
The United States and North Korea have decades of hostility between them, dating back to the 1950-1953 Korean war which ended without a peace treaty, and Pyongyang's regime has often worried its neighbours.
"This is provocative activity which threatens stability and peace on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia," South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan said.
The other five nations in the disarmament talks had all called on North Korea to refrain from the launch, including China.
Analysts said Pyongyang wanted good film footage of the launch to maximise its propaganda value.
"Our satellite rose to the sky. The space star world is now mine," a song aired by the Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station said, according to South Korea's official Yonhap news agency, which said Pyongyang was continuing to insist the launch had been a success.
The regime, one of the world's poorest nations, is seen as eager to give its people news of a technological triumph to bolster support at a time of lingering uncertainty over the health of leader Kim.
There are widespread reports he suffered a stroke last August. While apparently largely recovered, the incident has raised questions about who would succeed the 67-year-old.
- AFP/yt
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