The Security Council — whose 15 members include the United States, China and Russia — said even though North Korea characterized the rocket test as a satellite launch, it was clearly an effort to develop a ballistic missile and violated four U.N. resolutions dating to 2006.
Han Myung-Gu, Getty Images
People watch a TV screen showing a breaking news on North Korea's long-range rocket launch at Seoul Station on Sunday in Seoul, South Korea.
Sunday's launch follows North Korea’s widely disputed claim in January to have tested a hydrogen bomb. North Korean rocket and nuclear tests are considered moves toward the North’s ultimate goal of a nuclear armed missile that could hit the U.S. mainland.
Secretary of State John Kerry responded by calling the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan on Sunday to re-affirm U.S. commitment to the security and defense of both nations and their allies from threats posed by North Korea.
Seoul revealed new discussions with Washington over the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system on the peninsula in reaction to the North Korea test launch, which drew immediate objections from China and Russia.
Yoo Jeh Seung, head of defense planning for South Korean Defense Ministry, said Seoul and Washington will discuss deploying the THAAD missile system in response to North Korea's "provocation." THAAD is an acronoym for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense.
"The Republic of Korea and the U.S. assesses that North Korea's nuclear test and its long-range missile test is a severe threat against peace and stability of Republic of Korea and Asia Pacific Region," Yoo said, according to AP.
China, which maintains close ties with North Korea, said deploying an anti-missile system in South Korea would only escalate tensions, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said.
South Korean President Park Geun Hye called the missile launch an “intolerable provocation” that was “all about maintaining the regime” in Pyongyang.
North Korean state television said in a special broadcast Sunday that it had placed an observation satellite into orbit. U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii said it had “detected and tracked today what we assess was a North Korean missile,” and at no time did it pose a threat to the United States or its allies.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service believes the payload of the satellite launched into orbit is about twice that of the 220-pound satellite that North Korea launched into orbit in 2012, according to AP. The estimated range of the missile is 3,400 miles. The distance from North Korea to the West Coast of the United States is 5,800 miles.
North Korea fires rocket seen as covert missile test
Japan’s Ministry of Defense said the launch took place at 9:31 a.m. Sunday local time. It said the missile separated into five segments before passing over Japan’s southwest island chain, with the final segment landing the western Pacific Ocean about 1,242 miles south of the island of Okinawa.
Japan had deployed Patriot anti-ballistic missile systems and three warships equipped for missile defenses prior to the test but did not attempt to shoot down the missile or debris on Sunday, according to the defense ministry.
The North's move came less than a day after the country moved up the window for its planned launch to Feb. 7-14 from Feb. 8-25. No reason was given for the change.
South Korean analysts speculated the secretive North Korean leadership, which is sensitive to symbolic gestures, wanted to pull off the launch ahead of Feb. 16, the birthday of late dictator Kim Jong Il, the father of the current leader, Kim Jong Un.
North Korea tested nuclear explosive devices in 2006, 2009 and 2013 and claimed it successfully delivered a satellite into orbit in December 2012, the last time .
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