North Korea Launches Rocket On Sunday
A defiant North Korea proceeded to sending off a rocket which the pariah state claimed to be part of its aerospace program to put an Earth observation satellite in outer space. However, other countries are suspicious over its dubious peaceful satellite program which could be a covert long-range ballistic missile test fire.
The rocket was believed to have been blasted off from a launch pad in Tongchang-ri which is close to the country's northwestern border with China according to reports from the South Korean Ministry of Defense. However, there are no solid proof that would concretely point to a successful launch.
United States immediately condemned the rocket launch saying that it "represents yet another destabilizing and provocative action and is a flagrant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions" according to an official statement by US National Security Adviser Susan Rice as quoted by The New York Times.
As soon as reports of the rocket launch began streaming in, the South Korean president immediately assembled the country's top security brass in an emergency meeting to discuss its options to respond to the North's most recent provocation.
Japan is also closely monitoring the situation as tensions rise in the highly polarized region of Northeast Asia.
"North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons programs represent serious threats to our interests, including the security of some of our closest allies, and undermine peace and security in the broader region," the official twitter statement from the Prime Minister's Office as quoted by CNN.
The international community including the North's only real ally, China, regard the reclusive state's rocket launches as part of its highly secretive weapons program of developing intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of delivering destructive conventional and even nuclear warheads into continental United States as mentioned in a report by BBC.
