North Korea launches long-range rocket

North Korea launched a long-range rocket, apparently sending what it claims is a satellite into orbit on Sunday, but South Korea and the US denounced it as a long-range missile test that squarely challenges the international community, Yonhap reported on Sunday.

"It's presumed that the projectile has entered into orbit," a South Korean military official said, indicating that the North successfully launched the long-range rocket.

The official, however, qualified the assessment by saying that additional analysis is needed to confirm whether the satellite is operating normally in its orbit.

Earlier in the day, South Korea's Aegis destroyer's radar detected the rocket lifting off at 9:30 a.m. from North Korea's northwest Dongchang-ri launch site and concluded that it was a long-range rocket after studying the trajectory.

Upon the launch on the west coast, the rocket flew southward, dropping its first stage into the Yellow Sea off the Korean Peninsula at 9:32 a.m. The first stage exploded in midair and splashed down in some 270 pieces, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Four minutes later, the missile disappeared from the military's surveillance radar at about the same time it shed its fairing southwest of South Korea's Jeju Island, the JCS said.

The route matches what the North previously told United Nations agencies.

Officials said the missile passed through the skies of South Korea without creating any damage.

Three hours after the initial launch, North Korea announced through an official broadcast that it has succeeded in placing the "Kwangmyongsong-4" satellite into orbit.

But, the outside world views it as a cover for testing an intercontinental ballistic missile, which the North is prohibited from under a series of relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Initially, the North proclaimed the rocket would be fired sometime between Feb. 8 and 25, but it advanced the launch window to Feb. 7-14 on Saturday.

Source: MENA