CNN:
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.”
Carrier rocket Kwangmyongsong blasted off from the Sohae Space Center at 9 a.m Sunday local time, state news agency KCNA said.
The Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite entered orbit nine minutes and 46 seconds after the liftoff, an operation “great leader Kim Jong Un personally ordered and directed,” the TV announcer said.
Though North Korea said the launch was for scientific and “peaceful purposes” — adding it plans to launch more satellites — it was viewed by other nations, such as Japan and South Korea, as a front for a ballistic missile test, especially coming on the heels of North Korea’s purportedhydrogen bomb test last month.
A senior U.S. defense official said the rocket headed toward space and, based on its trajectory over the Yellow Sea, “did not pose a threat to the U.S. or our allies.”
Two objects have been detected in Earth’s orbit, a spokesman for U.S. Strategic Command told CNN Sunday.
“Initial observations, available on the publicly-available website Space-Track.org, indicate these two objects — NORAD catalog identification numbers 41332 and 41333 — are at an inclination of 97.5 degrees,” said LTC Martin O’Donnell, spokesman for U.S. Strategic Command.
The two objects appeared to be the satellite and the third stage of the rocket booster, said arms control expert David Wright, co-director of the Union of Concerned Scientists Global Security Program.
Japan’s analysis of the launch indicated parts the rocket fell into four locations offshore after takeoff, the Japanese Prime Minister’s office said via Twitter.
One location is 150 kilometers west of the Korean peninsula in the Yellow Sea, two other locations are southwest of the Korean peninsula in the East China Sea and a fourth location is about 2,000 kilometers south of Japan in the Pacific Ocean, according to the Prime Minister’s office…
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