North Koreans hail rocket launch
Source: Agencies |
December 13, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
In Pyongyang, North Koreans clinked beer mugs and danced in the streets to celebrate the country's first satellite in space. In Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, leaders pushed for consequences for yesterday's rocket launch.
The launch of a three-stage rocket similar in design to a model capable of carrying a nuclear-tipped warhead as far as California raises the stakes in the international standoff over North Korea's expanding atomic arsenal. As Pyongyang refines its technology, its next step may be conducting its third nuclear test, experts say.
The UN Security Council, which has punished North Korea repeatedly for developing its nuclear program, was due to meet behind closed doors xzyesterday.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the launch and expressed concern it could negatively impact prospects for peace and security in the region.
"The Secretary-General deplores the rocket launch announced by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement. "It is a clear violation of Security Council resolution 1874, in which the Council demanded that the DPRK not conduct any launch using ballistic missile technology."
The White House called the launch a "highly provocative act that threatens regional security."
In Pyongyang, however, pride over the scientific advancement outweighed fear of greater international isolation and punishment. North Korea, though struggling to feed its people, is now one of the few countries to have successfully launched a satellite into space from its own soil. South Korea is not on the list, though it has tried.
"It's really good news," Jon Il Gwang told reporters as scores of people poured into the streets to celebrate the launch by dancing in the snow. "It clearly testifies that our country has the capability to enter into space."
North Korea acknowledges three prior failed attempts at a space launch, in 1998, 2009 and this April. It also is believed to have attempted a launch in 2006. The April launch failed in the first of three stages, raising doubts whether it could fix what was wrong in just eight months.
The Unha rocket, named after the Korean word for "galaxy," blasted off from the Sohae launch pad in Tongchang-ri, northwest of Pyongyang, shortly before 10am.
A South Korean destroyer patrolling the waters west of the Korean Peninsula immediately detected the launch. Japanese officials said the first rocket stage fell into the Yellow Sea and a second stage fell into the Philippine Sea hundreds of kilometers farther south.
At one hotel bar, North Koreans watched raptly, cheering and applauding at the close of the brief broadcast. As vans mounted with loudspeakers drove around the capital announcing the news, the customers bundled up in parkas and ran outside to celebrate.
Pyongyang did not immediately release images of the launch, but hours later reporters at the Pyongyang satellite command center viewed a playback showing the rocket blasting off against a snowy backdrop in the northwest.
The launch could leave Pyongyang even more isolated and cut off from much-needed aid and trade.
The White House condemned what National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor called "yet another example of North Korea's pattern of irresponsible behavior."
North Korea's Foreign Ministry accused the US of overreacting to the launch "out of hostile feelings."
The launch of a three-stage rocket similar in design to a model capable of carrying a nuclear-tipped warhead as far as California raises the stakes in the international standoff over North Korea's expanding atomic arsenal. As Pyongyang refines its technology, its next step may be conducting its third nuclear test, experts say.
The UN Security Council, which has punished North Korea repeatedly for developing its nuclear program, was due to meet behind closed doors xzyesterday.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the launch and expressed concern it could negatively impact prospects for peace and security in the region.
"The Secretary-General deplores the rocket launch announced by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement. "It is a clear violation of Security Council resolution 1874, in which the Council demanded that the DPRK not conduct any launch using ballistic missile technology."
The White House called the launch a "highly provocative act that threatens regional security."
In Pyongyang, however, pride over the scientific advancement outweighed fear of greater international isolation and punishment. North Korea, though struggling to feed its people, is now one of the few countries to have successfully launched a satellite into space from its own soil. South Korea is not on the list, though it has tried.
"It's really good news," Jon Il Gwang told reporters as scores of people poured into the streets to celebrate the launch by dancing in the snow. "It clearly testifies that our country has the capability to enter into space."
North Korea acknowledges three prior failed attempts at a space launch, in 1998, 2009 and this April. It also is believed to have attempted a launch in 2006. The April launch failed in the first of three stages, raising doubts whether it could fix what was wrong in just eight months.
The Unha rocket, named after the Korean word for "galaxy," blasted off from the Sohae launch pad in Tongchang-ri, northwest of Pyongyang, shortly before 10am.
A South Korean destroyer patrolling the waters west of the Korean Peninsula immediately detected the launch. Japanese officials said the first rocket stage fell into the Yellow Sea and a second stage fell into the Philippine Sea hundreds of kilometers farther south.
At one hotel bar, North Koreans watched raptly, cheering and applauding at the close of the brief broadcast. As vans mounted with loudspeakers drove around the capital announcing the news, the customers bundled up in parkas and ran outside to celebrate.
Pyongyang did not immediately release images of the launch, but hours later reporters at the Pyongyang satellite command center viewed a playback showing the rocket blasting off against a snowy backdrop in the northwest.
The launch could leave Pyongyang even more isolated and cut off from much-needed aid and trade.
The White House condemned what National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor called "yet another example of North Korea's pattern of irresponsible behavior."
North Korea's Foreign Ministry accused the US of overreacting to the launch "out of hostile feelings."
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