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The New York Times reports that U.S. president Barack Obama called the incident a “provocative act” by North Korea. [New York Times: “North Korea Seeks Political Gain from Rocket Launch”]
North Korea’s third long-range missile launch was in direct confrontation with a test ban imposed by the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council. Consequently, the Security Council, composed of fifteen member nations, discussed ways on Sunday to punish North Korea for its actions.
North Korea claims the missile had an experimental communications satellite as its payload and, as such, is a peaceful launch. The satellite, according to North Korean officials, was playing patriotic music as it flew over Japan. (Was that Japanese or Korean patriotic music?)
Other countries aren’t so sure about North Korean's continuing intentions with their rocketry program, and think the launch is part of the country’s long-range military missile technology.
Earlier, North Korea announced to the International Civil Aviation Organization that it was planning to launch communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 on a Unha-2 carrier rocket.
A three-stage rocket was launched at around 0230 UTC (11:30 KST) on Sunday. It flew in the direction of Japan and, in fact, flew over the northern portion of Japan.
However, its second stage failed to ignite and the first-stage of the missile dropped into the Sea of Japan, while the other stages and the payload fell about 1,300 kilometers (810 miles) east of Japan into the Pacific Ocean.
There were no reports by the Japanese of debris falling onto the country. The United States reported that nothing onboard the missile reached an orbit about the Earth.
Japan reacts to the launch and the passing of the North Korean rocket over their country. See page two.
In reaction to the launch, officials with the Japanese government requested an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council, which met on Sunday, April 5, 2009.
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Although a failure in any launch book, the North Koreans did announce that it flew farther than its two previous attempts, one in 1998 and the other in 2006.
The United States reported the ballistic missile was called Taepodong-2 (TD-2, also referred to as Taep’o-Dong-2), and that it flew at least 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles), which was about double the distance that the 1998 missile flew. The missile reportedly has a maximum range of 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles).
At the same time, officials in Japan are considering ways to set up additional capabilities to defend themselves against future launches from North Korea, assuming them to be potentially military in nature.
The Reuters article “North Korea rocket revives Japan pre-emptive strike talk” reports that the Kyodo news agency is reporting that former Japanese finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa stated, “We should hold a proper debate about attacking launch bases and about shelters in case something does happen.”
Page three concludes with a comment from U.S. president Obama.
President Obama added, “In a strange turn of history, the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up." [New York Times]
And, "Black market trade in nuclear secrets and nuclear materials abound. The technology to build a bomb has spread.” [New York Times]
Referring to the sanctions imposed on North Korea from the U.N. Security Council, Obama stated, “Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something.” [New York Times]
Whether it is a bunch of people in a local neighorbood or a group of countries on Earth, there are rules to abide by in order to get along with others.
When you don't go by the rules people get suspicious of you and think your intentions are not what you say they are.
If North Korea has intentions of launching peaceful payloads with these missiles, then play by the rules.
If not, countries will assume the worst--as they are doing.
