North Korea defies warnings, fires rocket that U.N. says is cover for a banned test of technology.
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Sunday defied international warnings and launched a longrange rocket that the United Nations and others call a cover for a banned test of technology for a missile that could strike the U.S. mainland.
The rocket was fired from North Korea’s west coast and tracked separately by the governments of Japan and South Korea, which convened an emergency national security council meeting.
South Korean media reported that the rocket may have failed. A South Korean defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the rocket disappeared from South Korean military radars six minutes after its launch. The South Korean government couldn’t confirm the reports.
The launch came about two hours after an eight-day launch window opened Sunday morning. It follows North Korea’s widely disputed claim last month to have tested a hydrogen bomb.
Washington, Seoul and their allies will consider it a further provocation and will push for more sanctions in the United Nations.
North Korean rocket and nuclear tests are seen as crucial steps toward the North’s ultimate goal of a nuclear-armed long-range missile arsenal.
North Korea under leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to bolster its nucle- ar arsenal unless Washington scraps what Pyongyang calls a hostile policy meant to collapse Kim’s government.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the North Korean rocket launch and the recent nuclear test violations of U.N. agreements.
Secretary of State John Kerry has condemned North Korea’s rocket launch as “a flagrant violation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions” related to Pyongyang’s use of ballistic missile technology.