N.Korea: Nuclear tension

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Sunday in what U.S. and South Korean officials deemed a provocative act.
While the United States and South Korea confirmed the rocket launch, the payload of the rocket remains unclear. North Korea has said the rocket was to carry a satellite into space, but the United States, South Korea and other nations fear it could be a missile with a warhead attached.

"With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations," U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement after the launch.

"We will immediately consult with our allies in the region, including Japan and (South Korea), and members of the U.N. Security Council to bring this matter before the Council," Obama added. "I urge North Korea to abide fully by the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and to refrain from further provocative actions."
The council scheduled a meeting for Sunday afternoon after Japan's representative to the United Nations, Yukio Takasu, sent a letter requesting an urgent meeting in response to the launch.

A spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he "regrets that, against strong international appeal, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) went ahead with its planned launch. 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."

A senior Obama administration official in Washington confirmed that the rocket did clear Japan.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told reporters after the launch that the country's military was not forced to intercept any missile, which it had pledged to do if necessary. Preliminary data show that two objects, possibly boosters from the rocket, apparently fell around Japan, one in the Sea of Japan and one in the Pacific Ocean.
Western nations fear that North Korea plans a ballistic missile test rather than a satellite launch, but the Obama administration's special envoy to the Six-Party Talks, Stephen Bosworth, said last week that it didn't matter if the North Koreans were trying to put a satellite in space or testing a ballistic missile that could threaten Japan or the United States.
U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a statement late Saturday.

"It is alarming that North Korea carried out this missile launch in direct defiance of the international community," Berman said. "The test is an unnecessary provocation that raises tensions in the region, and I urge the North Koreans to stop using their missile and WMD programs to threaten their neighbors and the rest of the world."

My comment
N.Korea carried out its word finally and launched rockets. I have been waiting whether it will be really launch a satellite or something. Maybe China supports N.Korea, I suppose. But it is now listen to what western countries will decide what to do next. And it only needs to wait and see.