BREAKING NEWS: NORTH KOREA "SUCCESSFULLY" LAUNCHES SATELLITE
LATEST FROM KCNA: "Launching of the satellite "Gwangmyongsong-3" through rocket "Unha-3" was a success and the satellite entered into the planned orbit"
Reports in South Korean media say North Korea launched its rocket at 0951KST today from the West coast of the Korean peninsula, and that it has already passed over the Japanese island of Okinawa.
South Korean government spokesman Kim Min-seok told South Korean media gathered for a press conference at the Ministry of Defence in Seoul:
At 0951 this morning, the [North Korean] rocket was launched from the Tongch’ang-dong Space Launch Center. The rocket was tracked until 0958, when the object passed over the West of Okinawa
Kim also told reporters that there were indications of the launch since yesterday, but this information was not revealed to the public. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has reportedly called an immediate national security meeting and Japan has requested that the UN Security Council convene today [Wednesday].
Speaking to CNN, a senior US official said that they were “surprised” by the launch and that it was “not expected”.
http://www.nknews.org/2012/12/breaking-n...es-rocket/
Südkorea bestätigt den Erfolg:
S. Korean defense chief says first, second stages of N. Korean rocket separated successfully
SEOUL, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's defense chief said there was successful separation of the first and second stages of North Korea's long-range rocket that was launched on Wednesday.
"South Korea and the U.S. military are checking whether North Korea's rocket accurately entered orbit," Kim Kwan-jin told a Yonhap News reporter on his way back from an emergency national security meeting convened by President Lee Myung-bak. "Our radar has verified that (the rocket's) second stage separated."
Kim said his government was waiting for the analysis of the third stage from related organizations to verify Pyongyang's announcement that the rocket successfully put a scientific satellite into orbit.
Whether his military was ready for the Wednesday launch, Kim said, "We were always preparing."
The launch was a surprise as the North had indicated technical problems with the rocket and recently extended its launch window to Dec. 29.
Following the launch shortly before 10 a.m., Seoul's defense ministry said one part of the rocket fell into waters west of the Korean Peninsula and another part fell in the sea east of the Philippines.
"North Korea fired off a long-range missile from the Dongchang-ri launch pad, and it was immediately detected by Aegis ships in the Yellow Sea," defense ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said in a news conference. "We are currently analyzing whether it was successful."
The three-stage rocket was launched at 9:51 a.m. from the country's northwestern region, and its first stage was separated at 9:52 a.m. The first stage passed over the northernmost island of Baengnyeong one minute later and flew west of Japan's Okinawa at around 9:58 a.m., Kim said.
The ministry will make an announcement later in the day on whether the rocket launch was successful and American ambassador Sung Kim will visit the ministry, officials said.
The South Korean military is currently searching for rocket debris and has stepped up the military's readiness posture and upgraded its alert status.
The North says the Unha-3 rocket is aimed at putting a satellite in orbit, but South Korea, the U.S. and other nations see the launch as a cover for a test of ballistic missile technology that violates several U.N. resolutions.
A similar launch in April broke apart shortly after lift-off.
USA bestätigen den Erfolg
US expert says NKorea rocket launches satellite
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — An American space expert said North Korea has succeeded in launching a satellite into space.
Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said late Tuesday from Cambridge, Massachusetts, that the three-stage Unha-3 rocket launched early Wednesday morning delivered the satellite into orbit and constituted "a perfect success for North Korea."
He said that based on his own calculations, an object identified by the U.S. space command as "39026, 2012-072A" was from the North Korean satellite.
The apparent North Korean success comes after a rocket launch failure in April that flamed out after only 90 seconds.
LATEST FROM KCNA: "Launching of the satellite "Gwangmyongsong-3" through rocket "Unha-3" was a success and the satellite entered into the planned orbit"
Reports in South Korean media say North Korea launched its rocket at 0951KST today from the West coast of the Korean peninsula, and that it has already passed over the Japanese island of Okinawa.
South Korean government spokesman Kim Min-seok told South Korean media gathered for a press conference at the Ministry of Defence in Seoul:
At 0951 this morning, the [North Korean] rocket was launched from the Tongch’ang-dong Space Launch Center. The rocket was tracked until 0958, when the object passed over the West of Okinawa
Kim also told reporters that there were indications of the launch since yesterday, but this information was not revealed to the public. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has reportedly called an immediate national security meeting and Japan has requested that the UN Security Council convene today [Wednesday].
Speaking to CNN, a senior US official said that they were “surprised” by the launch and that it was “not expected”.
http://www.nknews.org/2012/12/breaking-n...es-rocket/
Südkorea bestätigt den Erfolg:
S. Korean defense chief says first, second stages of N. Korean rocket separated successfully
SEOUL, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's defense chief said there was successful separation of the first and second stages of North Korea's long-range rocket that was launched on Wednesday.
"South Korea and the U.S. military are checking whether North Korea's rocket accurately entered orbit," Kim Kwan-jin told a Yonhap News reporter on his way back from an emergency national security meeting convened by President Lee Myung-bak. "Our radar has verified that (the rocket's) second stage separated."
Kim said his government was waiting for the analysis of the third stage from related organizations to verify Pyongyang's announcement that the rocket successfully put a scientific satellite into orbit.
Whether his military was ready for the Wednesday launch, Kim said, "We were always preparing."
The launch was a surprise as the North had indicated technical problems with the rocket and recently extended its launch window to Dec. 29.
Following the launch shortly before 10 a.m., Seoul's defense ministry said one part of the rocket fell into waters west of the Korean Peninsula and another part fell in the sea east of the Philippines.
"North Korea fired off a long-range missile from the Dongchang-ri launch pad, and it was immediately detected by Aegis ships in the Yellow Sea," defense ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said in a news conference. "We are currently analyzing whether it was successful."
The three-stage rocket was launched at 9:51 a.m. from the country's northwestern region, and its first stage was separated at 9:52 a.m. The first stage passed over the northernmost island of Baengnyeong one minute later and flew west of Japan's Okinawa at around 9:58 a.m., Kim said.
The ministry will make an announcement later in the day on whether the rocket launch was successful and American ambassador Sung Kim will visit the ministry, officials said.
The South Korean military is currently searching for rocket debris and has stepped up the military's readiness posture and upgraded its alert status.
The North says the Unha-3 rocket is aimed at putting a satellite in orbit, but South Korea, the U.S. and other nations see the launch as a cover for a test of ballistic missile technology that violates several U.N. resolutions.
A similar launch in April broke apart shortly after lift-off.
USA bestätigen den Erfolg
US expert says NKorea rocket launches satellite
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — An American space expert said North Korea has succeeded in launching a satellite into space.
Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said late Tuesday from Cambridge, Massachusetts, that the three-stage Unha-3 rocket launched early Wednesday morning delivered the satellite into orbit and constituted "a perfect success for North Korea."
He said that based on his own calculations, an object identified by the U.S. space command as "39026, 2012-072A" was from the North Korean satellite.
The apparent North Korean success comes after a rocket launch failure in April that flamed out after only 90 seconds.