The North Korean regime launched a long-range missile Sunday.
North Korea's missile launch on Japanese TV. No quiet Sunday for journalists in East Asia today. 🙁 pic.twitter.com/X3yFx9UCKf
— SoBlaschke (@SoBlaschke) February 7, 2016
GRAPHIC: North Korea missile ranges pic.twitter.com/VEr8aN4IXt
— The Int'l Spectator (@intlspectator) February 7, 2016
The AP reported:
North Korea on Sunday defied international warnings and launched a long-range 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 launch, which South Korean officials confirmed about two hours after an eight-day launch window opened Sunday morning, follows North Korea’s widely disputed claim last month to have tested a hydrogen bomb. It will be considered a further provocation by Washington and its allies and likely draw more sanctions and condemnation from 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 says its nuclear and missile programs are necessary to defend itself against what it calls decades of U.S. hostility.
Leader Kim Jong Un has overseen two of the North’s four nuclear tests and three long-range rocket tests since taking over after the death of his father, dictator Kim Jong Il, in late 2011. North Korea says its rocket launches are satellite missions, but the U.S., South Korea and others say they are a covert test of ballistic missile technology. The U.N. Security Council prohibits North Korea from nuclear and ballistic missile activity.
