Posted on 12/11/2012 5:24:42 PM PST by Sub-Driver
North Korea launches rocket in defiance of critics
8:07pm EST
SEOUL (Reuters) - Isolated and impoverished North Korea launched its second long- range rocket of 2012 on Wednesday in what it said was a bid to put a satellite into space.
The North launched the rocket close to the first anniversary of the death of former leader Kim Jong-il and as elections loom in South Korea and Japan.
The launch, reported by South Korean media, was confirmed by South Korea's Defense Ministry.
Pyongyang says it is entitled to launch a satellite into space but critics say the rocket development is aimed at nurturing the kind of technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.
North Korea is banned from conducting missile and nuclear-related tests under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear tests.
The latest launch comes after a failed attempt in April that fizzled less than two minutes after blast-off.
Japan and South Korea put their armed forces on alert prior to the launch. The rocket is scheduled to pass between the Korean peninsula and China, with a second stage splashing down off the Philippines before launching the satellite into orbit.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Great minds think alike, only yours thinks 14 seconds quicker...
I had a lot of coffee today.
I didn’t know cats did Long Duck Dong impressions.
Is that cat alive?
It’s still funny though!! Come on!!
LOL
Knew the Japanese wouldn’t shoot it down . All talk and no action .
I hope Miss Park wins their election because that other guy is a “Be more like North Korea” kind of person
we have given the North-South Joint Industrial area most favored nation trading status. It is IN North Korea.
Dunno - dog is walking around the house with this funny look on his face.
Did they point it towards the sky?
It was a Long Dong Donkey Type 10...
We should dump the wheat on them from 50,000 feet in steel barrels onto their dictator’s palace....
They want their wheat, give it to them......
From Stratfor:
The rocket North Korea launched Dec. 12 fell into waters off the Philippines, Yonhap reported, citing the Japanese government. South Korean President Lee Myung Bak reportedly has convened an emergency meeting of South Korea’s National Security Council in response to the launch
The North Korean government said its rocket launch Dec. 12 successfully sent a satellite into orbit, Yonhap News Agency reported
A Japanese government spokesman said Dec. 12 that North Korea’s rocket launch was “unacceptable,” Kyodo news agency reported. Japan requested that the United Nations call an emergency Security Council meeting, which a Japanese official said would probably be held late Dec. 12 at the earliest.
Time to renegotiate the treaty that keeps our troops in harms way on the Korean Peninsula. S Korea has twice the population and an economy exponentially bigger than the North. Let them take all the risks.
Not a single South Korean is worth one dime of my tax money and one fingernail of a US Soldier.
Confirmed. A very close friend of ours teaches in Okinawa. They implemented a warning message in the school system and I quote from her e-mail of just a few minutes ago:
"All cell phones started beeping ... when you open it...it says disaster..in English."
Scary world but then the great zero is in charge isn't he?
Thank you for your report. Scary indeed!
Fat Boy’s Long Dong
Neither us nor the Japanese have anything with any capability to intercept an orbital launch, or an ICBM in boost phase.
They couldn't have shot it down if they wanted to.
Thanks Sub-Driver.
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