North Korea Launches Rocket On Sunday

Ken Todorov, a retired brigadier general and former deputy director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, told Reuters that North Korea had advanced its capabilities with the latest launch.

USA secretary of state John Kerry labelled the test “a flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolutions”.

South Korea, Japan, and the United States consider the launch to be a missile test in disguise that violates several UN Security Council resolutions.

U.S. Strategic Command on Monday said it continued to track two objects put into orbit by North Korea, the rocket payload or satellite, and the rocket body.

The launcher is mounted on a truck that can be airlifted to South Korea and the accompanying radar station.

The missile was launched from western North Korea on Saturday at 7:29 p.m. ET, or Sunday at 9:29 a.m. local time, in a trajectory that took it over the Yellow Sea, according to a US official.

There are fears that Sunday’s rocket launch was actually a disguised ballistic missile test.

“Each of these illegal actions requires a robust response because of the DPRK (North Korea) decisions and actions”. All 15 council members approved a statement condemning the launch and pledging to “expeditiously” adopt a new resolution with “significant” new sanctions.

The Security Council underscored that the launch, even if characterised as a satellite launch or space launch vehicle, contributes to North Korea’s development of nuclear weapon delivery systems.

Yoo said the talks on THAAD are aimed at bolstering South Korea-U.S. defense in the face of escalating North Korean threats.

North Korea has successfully launched a satellite into space, its state-run TV said, an action immediately condemned by the United States as “destabilizing and provocative”.

(.) South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff noted there is a high possibility of another abrupt provocation by North Korea, including a test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile. That means, “the only way to stop North Korea from going further down the nuclear path is to make it crystal clear to the regime that it has no option but to change”.