North Korea defies West with second firing of long-range rocket

[Purveyor]

5. North Korean rocket launch succeeds

North Korea appears to have successfully sent a satellite into orbit, US military officials have said after the regime launched a long-range rocket in defiance of international pressure to abandon what many see as a test of its ballistic missile capability.

The US, Japan and other countries immediately condemned the launch as a violation of international sanctions amid calls for further measures against Pyongyang.

US missile warning systems detected the rocket after it lifted off from a site on North Korea's west coast, said officials at the North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad), adding that the rocket deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit around Earth.

Norad said the three-stage Unha rocket had taken its expected southerly course, with its first stage falling into the Yellow Sea west of South Korea and the second landing in the sea east of the Philippines.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/12/north-korea-launches-rocket