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| A previous North Korean "Satellite Launch" (File Photo) |
By Shannon Tiezzi
North Korea conducted a missile launch on Sunday, prompting outrage from Seoul and Washington.
North Korea has made good on its promise to launch a long-range missile. The launch, Pyongyang’s sixth, came just before 9 am local time on February 7 (9:30 am in South Korea, thanks to North Korea’s decision to shift its time zone last summer). According to U.S. Strategic Command, the missile “was tracked on a southerly launch over the Yellow Sea” after launching from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station. The launch comes just over a month after North Korea conducted its latest nuclear test.
North Korea said that the purpose of the launch was to carry an earth observation satellite, Kwangmyongsong-4, to orbit. According to North Korea’s KCNA, the attempt was successful – the news agency reported that the satellite entered orbit just under 10 minutes after lift-off. However, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency claimed that the rocket “burn[ed] up” and fell into the ocean to the southwest of Jeju Island, off the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula. You can watch KCNA‘s broadcast of the launch on YouTube.
Despite North Korea’s claim that it was “legitimately exercising the right to use space for independent and peaceful purposes,” South Korea and the United States moved quickly to condemn the launch. Both countries consider the move little more than an excuse to test out a ballistic missile. South Korean President Park Geun-hye called the launch “an unacceptable provocation” and her deputy chief of national security, Cho Tae-yong, promised that “the government will continue to put necessary pressure on North Korea so that North Korea has no other choice but to change.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat