North Korea

International outcry over North Korean missile launch

Article published on the 2009-04-05 Latest update 2009-04-05 14:56 TU

A flight control centre in South Korea.
(Photo : Han Sang-gyun/Reuters)

World leaders unanimously condemned North Korea’s missile launch Sunday, saying that the action was illegal and disguised nuclear ambitions. US President Barack Obama and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, both called for Kim Jong Ill’s regime to be punished.

Apparently intended to launch a harmless communications satellite, North Korea had been warning that any interference in its launch would be considered an act of war.

Japan, South Korea and the United States all believe that the Pyongyang’s real purpose was to test the rocket, suspected to be a Taepodang-2 intercontinental ballistic missile which could in theory reach Alaska or Hawaii.

The launch quickly soured the feel-good international cooperation celebrated this week in London at the G20 Summit and in Strasburg at the Nato Summit. World leaders were quick to condemn the launch, saying that it was irresponsible and a move in the wrong direction.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on the international community to "punish a regime that respects no international rules."

"This is a provocation by North Korea. This is a regime that is acting outside international law," Sarkozy said in a French television interview.

US President Barack Obama went further, using the launch as an example of an old way of operating, and committing his country to nuclear disarmament.

“Today I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons,” Obama said.

“We too must ignore the voices that tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist: yes, we can,” he added.

The rocket took off from a secret base in North Korea around 0230 universal time, crossing over Japanese airspace before dropping its first booster stage seven minutes later into the ocean.

From there, the rocket’s path becomes contested. Japan and the United States claim that the rocket did not reach orbit, and that it fell into the Pacific Ocean. The North’s communist regime, however, claims that the rocket successfully delivered its satellite payload into orbit and that it is now broadcasting “revolutionary songs.”

Japan was on high alert with destroyers equipped with anti-missile AEGIS systems patrolling its coastline, but did not fire on the rocket.

This latest provocation is part of a cycle that North Korea uses to capitalise on international assistance, says correspondent Eban Ramstad in Seoul.

“North Korea will do something that upsets the world and then sit down to negotiate, get some concessions or some aid or assistance, then it will take that for a little while, then grown belligerent again,” Ramstad said.

"This launch, if anything, shows that... no words and no deeds by outsiders have ever been able to prevent North Korea from improving its skills in weapons development," Ramstad added.

The UN Security Council is set to meet this evening to discuss possible repercussions.