US President Barack Obama led global condemnation of North Korea's rocket launch yesterday, calling it "a provocative act" for which Pyongyang must be punished.South Korea called the act "reckless" and put its armed forces on heightened alert, as did Japan. China and Russia pleaded for restraint as the UN Security Council was summoned to an emergency session in New York early this morning (Hong Kong time).
The United States wants the strongest possible response from the UN Security Council to the launch, US ambassador Susan Rice said.
Volleys of outrage poured out of world capitals after the isolated, nuclear- armed Stalinist state launched the long- range rocket carrying what it called a satellite transmitting "immortal revolutionary songs."
But North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Northern Command officials issued a statement disputing any success.
"Stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan," the statement said.
"The remaining stages, along with the payload itself, landed in the Pacific Ocean. No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan."
But the fear is that a similar rocket could be used to fire a nuclear weapon.
"Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something. The world must stand together to prevent the spread of these weapons," Obama, in Prague for an EU- US summit, said.
"Now is the time for a strong international response. North Korea must know that the path to security and respect wi
ll never come through threats and illegal weapons."The rocket soared over Japan, but Tokyo took no action to shoot it down, as it had warned it might. But it warned Pyongyang of new sanctions.
"It is an extremely provocative action. Japan can never overlook it," Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso told reporters. He said Japan would join other nations to take action against North Korea.
South Korea put its 680,000-strong military on heightened alert as presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan branded the launch a "reckless" threat to global security.
"The government will deal firmly and resolutely with North Korea's provocative act," he said.
The European Union, Britain, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand also joined the chorus of condemnation.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki- moon, a South Korean, said: "Given the volatility in the region, as well as a stalemate in interaction among the concerned parties, such a launch is not conducive to efforts to promote dialogue, regional peace and stability."
An official in Russia's foreign ministry was quoted earlier by the Novosti news agency as saying Moscow is looking into whether the launch violated UN Security Council resolutions.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
