Japan, U.S. rap launch of rocket

UPDATED:

SEOUL | North Korea carried out its threatened launch of a long-range rocket over Japan on Sunday, defying international warnings and sparking an angry response from its Asian neighbors and the United States.

Japan immediately called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, which said it would hold that meeting Sunday afternoon. South Korea decried the launch as a “reckless act.”

President Obama, in Europe for a NATO summit, had repeatedly warned the Pyongyang government not to go forward with what North Korea claimed was merely a satellite launch but other nations viewed as the test of a long-range ballistic missile that could conceivably carry a nuclear warhead.

“The launch today of a Taepodong-2 missile was a clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718, which expressly prohibits North Korea from conducting ballistic missile-related activities of any kind,” Mr. Obama said in a statement issued from Prague.

“With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations.”

U.S. officials said the satellite failed to reach orbit, a sign that Pyongyang has not yet reached the ranks of major military powers, but that the launch itself was a violation of U.N. resolutions.

“There have been a number of instances now where the North Koreans have failed in what theyre trying to do,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters traveling with President Obama in Europe.

North Korea launched the three-stage rocket at 10:30 p.m. Saturday EST. The launch was announced by Pyongyang’s Korea Central News Agency and confirmed by the U.S. and South Korean governments.

”We cannot withhold our regrets and disappointment that North Korea has caused such a serious threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the world by firing a long-range rocket, when the entire world is joining efforts to overcome the global economic crisis,” said Lee Dong-kwan, a spokesman for South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, according to the Yonhap news agency.

China’s reaction was noticeably less alarmed than that of the U.S., Japan and South Korea, an indication that it may be difficult to get China’s support for tough new sanctions.

“We have taken notice of the launching activity by the DPRK [North Korea] this morning, and also noticed responses from relevant sides,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told the Xinhua news agency. “We hope relevant parties to keep calm and restraint, properly handle this issue, and work together to safeguard peace and stability of the region.”

Pyongyang announced last month that it would launch the Unha-2 (”Galaxy 2”) - carrying the Kwangmyongsong-2 (”Bright Star-2”) communications satellite. While intelligence agencies have noted that the bulbous nose on the end of the missile does indeed resemble that of a satellite rather than a warhead, the Unha-2 is virtually the same as the Taepodong-2, a strategic launch vehicle.

Although the North is technically prohibited from ballistic-missile programs under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718, adopted following long-range missile and nuclear tests in 2006, experts at a seminar held in Seoul on Friday said there is a gray area, as the U.N. also permits peaceful space exploration.

Japan said the second stage of the rocket booster splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, indicating the launch had been a success.

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