North Korea Launches Rocket
APRIL 5, 2009, 1:23 P.M. ET
By EVAN RAMSTAD
SEOUL -- North Korea launched a multi-stage rocket Sunday, advancing the weapons-development program that the U.S. and other countries have tried for years to stop but apparently failing to reach its goal of putting junk into space.
The rocket flew successfully for about 13 minutes Sunday morning but plunged into the Pacific Ocean as the second of its three stages was firing, officials in Japan, South Korea and the U.S. said.
The rocket was on course to an area in the ocean east of Japan where North Korea expected the second stage to fall. But its flight ended 372 miles before reaching that area.
North Korea several weeks ago announced a timing window for the launch and, as a result, generated enormous attention in Japan and South Korea. When it finally pushed the button, the launch played out virtually in real-time on Japanese TV, which quickly relayed information from military and government sources as the rocket flew over the country.
But as a result of the rocket's failure to reach a third stage, it may be difficult for analysts to determine whether North Korea launched a space rocket or a long-range missile, as many outsiders suspected.
Despite the uncertainty, world leaders immediately sharply criticized North Korea, just as they did with its previous tests of missiles over the past two decades and a nuclear device in 2006.
The United Nations Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Sunday afternoon in New York to consider penalties. U.S. President Barack Obama, in a speech in Prague about nuclear disarmament, said North Korea "broke the rules" with the launch.
By going through with it, North Korea again showed that no words or deeds by outsiders have yet been able to stop its push to build advanced weapons.
"Even if North Korea did not launch a satellite, they continued their effort to build an intercontinental ballistic missile despite outside pressure and will continue it in the future," said Kim Tae-woo, vice president at the Korea Institute of Defense Analysis in Seoul. "North Korea has demonstrated its capability politically. This complicates all negotiations with the North going forward."
North Korea's weapons drive serves multiple purposes for the authoritarian regime of its dictator, Kim Jong Il. In addition to building the country's own military strength, it provides an economic boost via arms sales to countries like Iran and Yemen and a diplomatic tool for extracting aid and security concessions from other countries, like Japan, South Korea and the U.S.
Though it is one of the world's poorest countries, North Korea's skill with missiles and rockets has improved steadily since it first acquired a missile from Egypt around 1980.
Such gains are achieved under a policy dubbed "military first" that requires North Korean citizens to sacrifice their prosperity, including food, for the sake of the military and weapons-development program. It involves hundreds of scientists in research labs in the capital Pyongyang, a nuclear power-plant site in Yongbyon and several other cities.
North Korean state TV broadcast a half-hour special about the launch and boasted it placed a satellite in space that was transmitting favorite songs of Mr. Kim. The launch was timed in part to occur before the April 9 meeting of North Korea's rubber-stamp legislature, which is scheduled to again proclaim Mr. Kim as National Defense Chairman, his only official title.
South Korean analysts estimate North Korea spends several hundred million dollars annually on missile systems. The North is currently building a second major testing facility in a northwestern province, to accompany the launch site on its northeast coast that was used for Sunday's rocket.
Outside military and intelligence officials in mid-January first observed preparations at that site, called Musudan-ri, via satellite photography. In mid-February, North Korea said it was preparing to launch a communications satellite and it later announced a launch plan for the April 4-8 period.
In contrast to North Korea's previous launches of long-range missiles in 1998 and 2006, missile-defense systems in the U.S. and Japan have improved to the level where they could credibly respond to a launch by shooting down the North Korean rocket. That prospect may have played a role in the North's insistence that the rocket was headed for space.
In 1998, North Korea after firing its long-range missile said it was headed for space. The country didn't discuss space at all with the 2006 missile launch. Both those earlier missiles also failed to go their expected distance. Sunday's rocket stayed aloft longer and traveled farther than the previous two.
The U.S. ruled out shooting down the projectile several weeks ago and Japanese officials said they would only shoot if the rocket or debris from it started to fall on its territory. No attempt to shoot down the North's rocket was made on Sunday.
North Korea's disclosure of its plans prompted several weeks of outcry and warnings by leaders from other countries and the U.N., which banned North Korea from ballistic missile testing after the 2006 launch.
Mr. Obama added his voice on Friday, saying North Korea would pay a price if it went through with the launch. After it happened, he worked North Korea into the text of a speech on disarmament that he'd already scheduled for Sunday morning in Prague.
"This provocation underscores the need for action -- not just this afternoon at the U.N. Security Council, but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons," Mr. Obama said in the speech. "Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something."
But Mr. Obama may find it harder to forge a coalition to penalize North Korea than President George W. Bush did in 2006. While China didn't oppose U.N. sanctions imposed then, events since then have caused China to rethink its policy, says Yan Xuetong, head of the Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua University.
After Sunday's launch, China issued a mild statement that urged "calm and restraint" by other countries.
"China now sees that economic sanctions will only undermine its influence on North Korea, not strengthen it," says Mr. Yan. "China has readjusted its policy and I don't think it will support sanctions."
South Korea Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan said it will consider joining a U.S.-led effort to stop trafficking of weapons of mass destruction, called the Proliferation Security Initiative, in response to the North's launch.
—SungHa Park in Seoul and Ian Johnson in Beijing contributed to this article.
Write to Evan Ramstad at evan.ramstad@wsj.com
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