Japan PM Abe calls N.Korean launch ‘absolutely intolerable’

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned North Korea’s launch Sunday 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.

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This picture taken from North Korean TV and released by South Korean news agency Yonhap on February 7, 2016 shows North Korea’s locket launch of earth observation satellite Kwangmyong 4. North Korea said on February 7, it had successfully put a satellite into orbit, with a rocket launch widely condemned as a ballistic missile test for a weapons delivery system to strike the US mainland. REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT — RESTRICTED TO SUBSCRIPTION USE — AFP PHOTO / North Korean TV via YONHAP

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