N. Korea long-range missile fails in test launch
Rogue country sends at least three rockets into the Sea of Japan
BREAKING NEWS
The Associated Press
Updated: 2:42 p.m. MT July 4, 2006
TOKYO - North Korea launched a long-range missile Wednesday that may be capable of reaching the United States but it failed after 35 or 40 seconds, two State Department officials said.
The missile was one of at least three that were fired. The two others were short-range missiles. All landed in the Sea of Japan, said the Japanese government, which was unable to confirm that they included a long-range missile.
The officials in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the long-range missile was the Taepodong-2, North Korea's most advanced missile with a range of up to 9,320 miles.
The launch came after weeks of speculation that the North was preparing to test its advanced Taepodong-2 missile from a site on its northeast coast. The preparations had generated stern warnings from the United States and Japan, which had threatened possible economic sanctions in response.
The Sea of Japan lies between Japan and the Korean Peninsula.
"North Korea has gone ahead with the launch despite international protest," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said.
"That is regrettable from the standpoint of Japan's security, the stability of international society, and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
The reclusive communist state launched the first missile at 3:32 a.m., or 2:32 p.m. Tuesday EDT, and it crashed into the Sea of Japan several minutes later, public broadcaster NHK reported. NHK said two missiles were confirmed launched, but Kyodo quoted a government official as saying four missiles may have been fired.
Han Song Ryol, deputy chief of North Korea’s mission to the U.N. in New York, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview: “We diplomats do not know what the military is doing.”
So far, no members of the U.N. Security Council, which includes Japan and the United States, has asked for a meeting on North Korea’s actions.
“We are urgently consulting with members of the Security Council,” U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said in a statement.
North Korea’s missile program is based on Scud technology provided by the former Soviet Union or Egypt, according to American and South Korean officials. North Korea started its Rodong-1 missile project in the late 1980s and test-fired the missile for the first time in 1993.
If the timing is correct, the North Korean missiles were launched within minutes of Tuesday’s liftoff of Discovery, which blasted into orbit from Cape Canaveral in the first U.S. space shuttle launch in a year.
North Korea had observed a moratorium on long-range missile launches since 1999. It shocked the world in 1998 by firing a Taepodong missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean.
The reported launches came after weeks of speculation that the North was preparing to test its advanced Taepodong 2 missile from a site on its northeast coast.
The preparations had generated stern warnings from the United States and Japan, which had threatened possible economic sanctions in response.
Temperatures further heightened Monday when the North’s main news agency quoted an unidentified newspaper analyst as saying Pyongyang was prepared to answer a U.S. military attack with “a relentless annihilating strike and a nuclear war.”
The Bush administration responded by saying while it had no intention of attacking, it was determined to protect the United States if North Korea launched a long-range missile.
In Tokyo, a group of ruling party members called Tuesday for immediate economic sanctions against North Korea if the communist nation conducted the test-launch.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13704198/
Rogue country sends at least three rockets into the Sea of Japan
BREAKING NEWS
The Associated Press
Updated: 2:42 p.m. MT July 4, 2006
TOKYO - North Korea launched a long-range missile Wednesday that may be capable of reaching the United States but it failed after 35 or 40 seconds, two State Department officials said.
The missile was one of at least three that were fired. The two others were short-range missiles. All landed in the Sea of Japan, said the Japanese government, which was unable to confirm that they included a long-range missile.
The officials in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the long-range missile was the Taepodong-2, North Korea's most advanced missile with a range of up to 9,320 miles.
The launch came after weeks of speculation that the North was preparing to test its advanced Taepodong-2 missile from a site on its northeast coast. The preparations had generated stern warnings from the United States and Japan, which had threatened possible economic sanctions in response.
The Sea of Japan lies between Japan and the Korean Peninsula.
"North Korea has gone ahead with the launch despite international protest," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said.
"That is regrettable from the standpoint of Japan's security, the stability of international society, and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
The reclusive communist state launched the first missile at 3:32 a.m., or 2:32 p.m. Tuesday EDT, and it crashed into the Sea of Japan several minutes later, public broadcaster NHK reported. NHK said two missiles were confirmed launched, but Kyodo quoted a government official as saying four missiles may have been fired.
Han Song Ryol, deputy chief of North Korea’s mission to the U.N. in New York, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview: “We diplomats do not know what the military is doing.”
So far, no members of the U.N. Security Council, which includes Japan and the United States, has asked for a meeting on North Korea’s actions.
“We are urgently consulting with members of the Security Council,” U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said in a statement.
North Korea’s missile program is based on Scud technology provided by the former Soviet Union or Egypt, according to American and South Korean officials. North Korea started its Rodong-1 missile project in the late 1980s and test-fired the missile for the first time in 1993.
If the timing is correct, the North Korean missiles were launched within minutes of Tuesday’s liftoff of Discovery, which blasted into orbit from Cape Canaveral in the first U.S. space shuttle launch in a year.
North Korea had observed a moratorium on long-range missile launches since 1999. It shocked the world in 1998 by firing a Taepodong missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean.
The reported launches came after weeks of speculation that the North was preparing to test its advanced Taepodong 2 missile from a site on its northeast coast.
The preparations had generated stern warnings from the United States and Japan, which had threatened possible economic sanctions in response.
Temperatures further heightened Monday when the North’s main news agency quoted an unidentified newspaper analyst as saying Pyongyang was prepared to answer a U.S. military attack with “a relentless annihilating strike and a nuclear war.”
The Bush administration responded by saying while it had no intention of attacking, it was determined to protect the United States if North Korea launched a long-range missile.
In Tokyo, a group of ruling party members called Tuesday for immediate economic sanctions against North Korea if the communist nation conducted the test-launch.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13704198/
