North Korea launches long-range rocket

PYONGYANG, North Korea -- North Korea's much-anticipated rocket launch ended quickly in failure early Friday local time, splintering into pieces over the Yellow Sea soon after takeoff.

North Korea acknowledged in an announcement broadcast on state TV that a satellite launched hours earlier from the west coast failed to enter into orbit. The U.S. and South Korea also declared the launch a failure.

The Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite was fired from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Tongchang-ri along the west coast at 7:38 a.m., but failed to reach orbit, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

"Scientists, technicians and experts are now looking into the cause of the failure," KCNA said.

U.S. and South Korean officials said hours earlier that the rocket splintered into pieces about a minute after liftoff over the Yellow Sea, calling it a provocative failed test of missile technology.

In response to the launch, Washington announced it was suspending plans to contribute food aid to the North in exchange for a rollback of its nuclear programs.

The U.S., South Korea and many other countries had warned against the launch, calling it a provocation and a cover to test missile technology. North Korea had insisted it would not back down, and said the rocket would only carry a civilian satellite, touting it as a major technological achievement to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the country's founder, Kim Il Sung, on Sunday.

The rocket's failure is major embarrassment for Pyongyang, which invited dozens of international journalists to observe the rocket launch and other celebrations.

It staked its pride on the satellite, seeing it as a show of strength amid persistent economic hardship while Kim Il Sung's grandson, the 29-year-old Kim Jong Un, solidifies power following the death of his father, longtime leader Kim Jong Il, four months ago.

"It blows a big hole in the birthday party," said Victor Cha, former director for Asia policy in the U.S. National Security Council, contacted in Washington. "It's terribly embarrassing for the North."

He said the next step would be to watch whether North Korea conducts a nuclear test, as has been speculated by the South Korean intelligence community. North Korea is reportedly making preparations for such a test soon.

"We have to watch very carefully what they are doing now at the nuclear test site and how they explain this with all those foreign journalists in the country," Cha said.

In Pyongyang, there was no word about a launch. North Korean officials said they would make an announcement about the launch "soon." At Kim Il Sung Square, the city's main plaza, residents were sitting around waiting for a rehearsal for upcoming celebrations.

It had earlier said that the rocket would be fired any day between Thursday and Monday. The daily window was supposed to be 7 a.m. to noon.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said the rocket launch was confirmed a "failure." He provided no details.

But earlier, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters the rocket splintered into pieces moments after takeoff.

In Washington, a U.S. official also said the launch appeared to have failed. The official offered no further details and would not discuss the source of the U.S. information.

"We suspect the North Korean missile has fallen as it divided into pieces minutes after liftoff," the official said. Tokyo, which was prepared to shoot down any rocket flying over its territory, also confirmed a launch from North Korea.

"We have confirmed that a certain flying object has been launched and fell after flying for just over a minute," Japanese Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka said. He said there was no impact on Japanese territory.

North Korean space officials said the Unha-3, or Galaxy-3, rocket is meant to send a satellite into orbit to study crops and weather patterns -- its third bid to launch a satellite since 1998. Officials took foreign journalists to the west coast site to see the rocket and the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite Sunday in a bid to show its transparency amid accusations of defiance.

"For all their advanced technology, these rockets are fairly fragile things," said Brian Weeden, a technical adviser at Secure World Foundation and former Air Force officer at the U.S. Space Command. "You're looking at a metal cylinder that has fairly thin walls that contains a lot of high pressure liquid."

Weeden said the launch appeared to be a failure of both space and missile objectives.

"The earlier it breaks up, the less data you've collected, so the less useful that test is likely to be," he said. "It's very likely that the U.S. and its allies probably gathered more information about this test than the North Koreans have."

He said the U.S. and other nations had been poised to keep close watch on the launch to gather intelligence about the state of North Korea's rocket program.

The United States, Britain, Japan and others have called such a launch a violation of U.N. resolutions prohibiting North Korea from nuclear and ballistic missile activity.

Experts say the Unha-3 carrier is the same type of rocket that would be used to launch a long-range missile aimed at the U.S. and other targets. North Korea has tested two atomic devices but is not believed to have mastered the technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking for the Group of Eight nations after their foreign ministers met in Washington, said Thursday that all the members of the bloc agreed to be prepared to take further action against North Korea in the Security Council if the launch went ahead.

"Pyongyang has a clear choice: It can pursue peace and reap the benefits of closer ties with the international community, including the United States; or it can continue to face pressure and isolation," Clinton said.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was convening an emergency security meeting, officials said.

------

Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Foster Klug contributed to this report from Seoul, South Korea and Mari Yamaguchi and Malcolm Foster contributed from Tokyo.