Hugemate | The Network News

North Korea’s missile launching failed as it went off and fell into the Korean Peninsula this Friday morning.

Just less than two minutes after its lift-off, the Unha-3 rocket, which was believed by U.S., South Korea, Japan, and other countries  to be a ballistic missile, exploded and broke into 20 pieces before it scattered into the sea.

“Initial indications are that the first stage of the missile fell into the sea 165km (105 miles) west of Seoul, South Korea,” the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) stated.  “The remaining stages were assessed to have failed and no debris fell on land. At no time were the missile or the resultant debris a threat.”

Pyongyang confirmed the failure and said that their scientists are already assessing the cause of its failure.

The rocket was launched at 07:39 local time this morning (22:39 GMT Thursday) from north-west North Korea. It was supposed to take south, to the west of the Korean peninsula between Japan and the Philippines.

The UN security council will meet later today to discuss about the launch and come up with a coordinated action against North Korea’s aggressive behavior.

Sources:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/13/north-korea-rocket-launch-fails

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17698438