North Korea conducts launch

According to U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials, North Korea has conducted its much anticipated launch from the Musudan-ri site. The nature of the launch remains unclear, though North Korea has consistently said it planned to launch an Unha-2 rocket carrying Kwangmyongsong-2, an experimental communications satellite. The Australian reports that South Korean presidential spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan said the vehicle appeared to have carried a satellite. The launch took place at 10:30PM EDT Saturday. According to The Japan Times, there was a false alarm issued by the Japanese government earlier today. This latest announcement, however, has been confirmed by the U.S. State Department and the government of South Korea. Image: AP.

The U.S., Japan, and South Korea believe that any launch conducted by North Korea, regardless of mission, is a violation of United Nations Resolutions 1695 and 1718. Japan did not attempt an intercept (it had indicated it would intercept any debris from the vehicle that it would find threatening) and has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. The request has been granted, and the Security Council will be meeting later today to address the matter.

An interesting image from AFP showing people watching South Korean news on the launch is provided below:


More information regarding the possible nature of the vehicle can be found here and here. Useful data can also be found at AGI. More details as they become available.

The Korea Herald
China Daily
Xinhua
MSNBC
CNN
Reuters
New York Times