Seoul: North Korea Sunday said it had successfully put a satellite into orbit, with a rocket launch that has widely been condemned as a ballistic missile test for a weapons delivery system to strike the US mainland.
The launch, which violated multiple UN resolutions, amounted to the North doubling down against an international community that is already struggling to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear test a month ago.
There was no immediate external confirmation that the final stage of the satellite-bearing rocket had successfully achieved orbit, although a US defence official said the launch vehicle “appears to have reached space”.
An earlier unconfirmed report from South Korea’s Yonhap news agency had suggested the second stage might have malfunctioned.
In a special state TV broadcast, a female North Korean announcer, wearing a traditional Korean hanbok dress, said the launch, which was personally ordered by leader Kim Jong-Un, had “successfully put our Earth observation satellite Kwangmyong 4 … into orbit”.
While stressing that the launch represented the legitimate exercise of North Korea’s right to the “peaceful and independent” use of space, she also noted that it marked a “breakthrough in boosting our national defence capability”. The North’s scientists would work towards further satellite launches in the future, she said.
Condemnation was swift, with the United States calling the launch “destabilising and provocative”, while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe slammed it as “absolutely intolerable”. In New York, diplomats said the UN Security Council would meet in an emergency session.
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said the council should respond quickly with “strong punitive measures” against what she called a grave challenge to global peace and security. AFP