N Korea defies world,launches rocket

North Korea fired a rocket over Japan on Sunday,defying Washington,Tokyo and others who suspect the launch was cover for a test of its long-range missile technology....

North Korea fired a rocket over Japan on Sunday,defying Washington,Tokyo and others who suspect the launch was cover for a test of its long-range missile technology. President Barack Obama said the move threatens the security of nations near and far. The UN Security Council approved an emergency session in New York.

Liftoff took place at 11.30 am (0230 GMT) from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea,the South Korean and US governments said. The multistage rocket hurtled toward the Pacific,reaching Japanese airspace within seven minutes,but no debris appeared to hit its territory,officials in Tokyo said.

Four hours after the launch,North Korea declared it a success. An experimental communications satellite reached outer space in just over nine minutes and is orbiting earth,the state-run Korean Central News Agency said from Pyongyang.

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The satellite is transmitting the melodies of the immortal revolutionary paeans Song of Gen. Kim Il Sung and Song of Gen. Kim Jong Il as well as measurement data back to earth, it said,referring to the countrys late founder and his son,its current leader.

But the US military said no object entered orbit. North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Northern Command officials said that the first stage of the rocket fell into the waters between Korea and Japan,while the two other stages,and its payload,landed in the Pacific.

North Korea has ignored its international obligations,rejected unequivocal calls for restraint and further isolated itself from the community of nations, Obama said in Prague.