N Korea rocket fizzles, US says; Obama urges action
UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The U.S. and its allies sought punishment Sunday for North Korea’s defiant launch of a rocket that apparently fizzled into the Pacific, holding an emergency U.N. meeting in response to concerns the country was testing long-range missile technology.
President Barack Obama, faced with his first global security crisis, called for a international response and condemned North Korea for threatening the peace and stability of nations”near and far.” Minutes after liftoff, Japan requested the emergency Security Council session in New York.
U.S. and South Korean officials claim the entire rocket, including whatever payload it carried, ended up in the ocean but many world leaders fear the launch indicates the capacity to fire a long-range missile. Pyongyang claims it launched an experimental communications satellite into orbit Sunday and that it’s transmitting data and patriotic songs.Using a possible loophole in U.N. sanctions imposed after the 2006 nuclear test that barred the North from ballistic missile activity, the Pyongyang government claimed it was exercising its right to peaceful space development.
The U.S. said nuclear-armed North Korea clearly violated the resolution, but objections from Russia and China – the North’s closest ally – will almost certainly water down any strong response. Both have Security Council veto power.