The launch was "absolutely intolerable," Shinzo Abe told reporters. ( AFP File Photo)
Tokyo, Japan:
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket and said it was a violation of UN Security resolutions.
The launch was "absolutely intolerable," Abe told reporters as it came despite repeated protests by the international community. He also called it a "clear violation" of UN Security Council resolutions.
The rocket took off at around 9:00 am Pyongyang time (0030 GMT), according to the South Korean defence ministry which was monitoring the launch site.
North Korea had labelled the launch part of a purely scientific space programme, but most of the world viewed it as a disguised ballistic missile test and the nuclear-armed state's latest step towards a weapons delivery system capable of striking the US mainland.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a hastily arranged press conference that the government so far had judged that no part of the rocket had fallen within Japan's territory.
The launch was "absolutely intolerable," Abe told reporters as it came despite repeated protests by the international community. He also called it a "clear violation" of UN Security Council resolutions.
The rocket took off at around 9:00 am Pyongyang time (0030 GMT), according to the South Korean defence ministry which was monitoring the launch site.
North Korea had labelled the launch part of a purely scientific space programme, but most of the world viewed it as a disguised ballistic missile test and the nuclear-armed state's latest step towards a weapons delivery system capable of striking the US mainland.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a hastily arranged press conference that the government so far had judged that no part of the rocket had fallen within Japan's territory.
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