North Korea successfully fired along-range rocket on Wednesday, defying international warnings as the regime ofKim Jong Un took a giant step forward in its quest to develop the technology todeliver a nuclear warhead.
The United States, South Korea and Japan quickly condemnedthe morning launch, which came as something of a surprise after Pyongyang hadindicated technical problems might delay it. That it succeeded after severalfailed attempts was an even greater surprise.
The regime's stated purpose for firing its long-range Unha-3rocket was to put a peaceful satellite into orbit, but the United Nations, aswell as the U.S. and its allies see it as cover for a test of technology formissiles.
About two hours after the launch, North Korea's state mediaproclaimed it a success, prompting customers in the coffee shop at Pyongyang'sKoryo Hotel to break into applause during a special television broadcast. TheNorth American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, later confirmed that NorthKorea did appear to have put an object into space.
Wednesday's launch is likely to bring fresh sanctions on theNorth, and the White House called it a "highly provocative act thatthreatens regional security."
NORAD said the rocket traveled south with the first stagefalling into the Yellow Sea and a second stage falling into the Philippine Seahundreds of kilometers (miles) farther south. "Initial indications arethat the missile deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit," NORADsaid in a statement.
Japan protested the launch and said one part of the rocketlanded west of the Korean Peninsula, and the Philippines said another partlanded 300 kilometers (186 miles) east of its shores. South Korean PresidentLee Myung-bak held an emergency national security council meeting Wednesday, andSouth Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan warned that North Korea will facegrave consequences.
Japan's Foreign Ministry said Tokyo immediately requestedconsultations on the launch within the U.N. Security Council. The council willhold closed-door consultations on the launch Wednesday at the request of onecouncil member and two other countries, according to the U.N. Mission forMorocco, which holds the rotating council presidency.
A similar North Korean launch in April broke apart shortlyafter liftoff.
"Clearly this is much more successful than their lastattempt," said Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center forAstrophysics. "It's at least as good as they've ever done. They've provedthe basic design of it."
He said success would be defined as "something thatcompletes at least one orbit of the Earth."
Rocket tests are seen as crucial to advancing North Korea'snuclear weapons ambitions. North Korea is thought to have only a handful ofrudimentary nuclear bombs. But Pyongyang is not yet believed capable ofbuilding warheads small enough to mount on a missile that could threaten theUnited States.
North Korea has spent decades trying to perfect amultistage, long-range rocket. Experts say that ballistic missiles and rocketsin satellite launches share similar bodies, engines and other technology. Thisis the fifth attempt at a long-range launch since 1998, when Pyongyang sent a rockethurtling over Japan. Previous launches of three-stage rockets weren't consideredsuccessful.
North Korea under new leader Kim has pledged to bolster itsnuclear arsenal unless Washington scraps what Pyongyang calls a hostile policy.
Kim took power after his father Kim Jong Il died on Dec. 17last year, and the launch is seen by some as an attempt to commemorate that. Italso comes less than a week before presidential elections in South Korea andabout a month before President Barack Obama is inaugurated for his second term.
The launches Wednesday and in April came from a site on thewest coast, in the village of Tongchang-ri, about 56 kilometers (35 miles) fromthe Chinese border city of Dandong, across the Yalu River from North Korea. Thesite is 70 kilometers (45 miles) from the North's main Yongbyon nuclearcomplex, and is said to have better roads and facilities than previous sitesand to allow a southerly flight path meant to keep the rocket from flying overother countries.
Tensions are high between the rival Koreas. The KoreanPeninsula remains technically at war, as the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce,and Washington stations nearly 30,000 troops in South Korea as a buttressagainst any North Korean aggression. Tens of thousands more are in nearbyJapan.
This year is the centennial of the birth of national founderKim Il Sung, the grandfather of Kim Jong Un. According to North Koreanpropaganda, 2012 is meant to put the North on a path toward a "strong,prosperous and great nation."
The launch also follows South Korea's recent cancellation,because of technical problems, of an attempt to launch its first satellite fromits own territory. Two previous attempts in 2009 and 2010 failed.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed two rounds ofsanctions on North Korea following its nuclear tests, and a 2009 resolutionorders the North not to conduct any launch using ballistic missile technology.
The council condemned the failed North Korean launch inApril and ordered seizure of assets of three North Korean state companieslinked to financing, exporting and procuring weapons and missile technology.
Under Security Council resolutions, nations are also barredfrom buying or selling weapons with North Korea, a key source of revenue forits authoritarian government.
North Korea has capable short- and medium-range missiles,but long-range launches in 1998, 2006, 2009 and in April of this year ended infailure. North Korea is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for atleast half a dozen bombs, according to U.S. experts. In 2010 it revealed auranium enrichment program that could provide a second source of material fornuclear weapons.
Six-nation negotiations on dismantling North Korea's nuclearprogram in exchange for aid fell apart in early 2009.
A February deal for the United States to provide 240,000metric tons of food aid in exchange for a freeze in nuclear and missileactivities collapsed after the North's April launch.