Rocket Man

[WillEater]

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20..._medium=website&utm_content=link#.VrZxellA5K0

 

[Ceewan]

I've been keeping up about that at reuters. I read somewhere that many are expecting North Korea to launch as early as tomorrow. North Korea already has a satellite in orbit but this launch after their recent atomic test has a lot of people worried.

Personally, as much as I abhor the North Korean regime, they have legitimate grievances. As a soveriegn country they do have the right to pursue both nuclear and missile technology. However I feel if China wasn't their "Big Brother" other countries would have already used military means as a ways to dissuade them from such pursuits. North Korea does not play nice with other countries, they enslave and torture their own people, as well as imprison foreign tourists over the slightest of offenses. Just not a government you want in this world, let alone in command of a nuclear arsenal with long range capability.

Kinda curious if the threat Chinese retalition will stop South Korea or Japan from shooting down this rocket. Guess we will find out soon.

 

[Ceewan]

Tokyo condemned the launch of a North Korean rocket Sunday that apparently flew over Okinawa Prefecture and was widely viewed as a ballistic missile test in disguise.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addressed reporters immediately after the rocket was launched from North Korea’s western coast at around 9:31 a.m.

“North Korea’s act of pressing on with the missile launch despite (our) repeated warnings to exercise self-restraint is totally unacceptable,” Abe said at his office. He condemned the firing and slammed it as a clear violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said it appeared that no debris from the rocket, which Tokyo said separated into five pieces while flying south, landed in Japanese territory.

“Following the (Jan. 6) nuclear weapons test, this is a clear violation of U.N. resolutions,” he added.

The first, second and third parts fell into areas projected earlier by North Korea. But the fourth landed outside the designated area, the government said. This could indicate that it partially failed.

The U.S. Strategic Command, however, said it detected a rocket entering space.

more at:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...sile-test-japan-condemns-launch/#.VrdhvFLLcTs

The launch prompted South Korea and the United States to announce that they would explore the feasibility of deploying an advanced missile defense system in South Korea, which China and Russia both oppose, "at the earliest possible date."

North Korea's state news agency carried a still picture of a white rocket that closely resembled a previously launched rocket, lifting off. Another showed Kim surrounded by cheering military officials at what appeared to be a command center.

North Korea's last long-range rocket launch, in 2012, put what it called a communications satellite into orbit, but no signal has ever been detected from it.

more at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-satellite-idUSKCN0VG00H