says South Korean and Japanese officials. Breaking news on CNN.com at the moment.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/04/04/north.korea.rocket/index.html

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea has launched a long-range rocket, a South Korean official confirmed to CNN on Sunday.

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.


Earlier Sunday, before the launch, South Korea's national security council called an emergency meeting amid concerns that a North Korean rocket launch was imminent, a presidential spokesperson told CNN Sunday.

On Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama reiterated that the United States strongly opposes any such launch.



[Edited on April 4, 2009 at 11:05 PM. Reason : ]

4/4/2009 11:02:48 PM

hmmm do yall hear somethin outside?

4/4/2009 11:03:20 PM

4/4/2009 11:07:11 PM

so what happened?

4/4/2009 11:08:00 PM

4/4/2009 11:08:58 PM

North Korea has been getting a "communications satellite" ready for launch and has just launched the rocket. A lot of places are fairly skeptical that it really is a communications satellite and fear that there may be a warhead attached to the rocket. I imagine we will find out which it is fairly shortly.

4/4/2009 11:10:05 PM

quick, everyone put your head between your knees

4/4/2009 11:10:10 PM

4/4/2009 11:10:48 PM

stick your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye

4/4/2009 11:11:47 PM

balls

4/4/2009 11:11:56 PM

The rocket that was launched is a Taepodong 3 which can carry a 550 pound payload and travel about 4,100 miles.



[Edited on April 4, 2009 at 11:16 PM. Reason : type a dong]

4/4/2009 11:14:00 PM

What ever happened to Japan shooting it down if it came into their airspace?

4/4/2009 11:16:39 PM

guess they missed

4/4/2009 11:17:49 PM

What the fuck?

4/4/2009 11:18:07 PM

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7982874.stm

North Korea appears to have launched a rocket, despite international appeals not to go ahead.

Officials from Japan, South Korea and the US confirmed lift-off at 0230 GMT. The rocket appeared to have passed over Japan to the Pacific, Tokyo said.

North Korea says it is sending a satellite into orbit, but its neighbours suspect the launch could be a cover for a long-range missile test.

They say it violates UN resolutions and have warned of consequences.

"A short time ago a flying object appeared to have been launched from North Korea," the Japanese government statement said.

The US State Department and South Korea's presidential office also confirmed a launch.

Japan did not try to intercept it, as it had indicated that it would if its territory was threatened, it said in a statement.

The US called the launch "provocative" and the Japanese government described it as "regrettable".

4/4/2009 11:18:33 PM

I just launched my rocket

4/4/2009 11:18:34 PM

Great, another Cold War but now amidst a freaking recession.

WHY DOESN'T THE WORLD END ALREADY AND END OUR CONSTANT FEAR???

4/4/2009 11:21:58 PM

this is most excellent news

4/4/2009 11:22:34 PM

There's no reason to worry about this just yet, it's most likely just a test. They have a long way to go before they will be a huge threat unless they start buying from Iran. Now we get to put new sanctions on them and force their people to suffer more!

[Edited on April 4, 2009 at 11:24 PM. Reason : Not that it would matter anyway as Kim Jong-il does a good job of that naturally.]

4/4/2009 11:23:19 PM

the Cold War to battle Global Warming

result should be quite balmy

4/4/2009 11:23:24 PM

1.) It was over 45 minutes ago
2.) Nobody stated they were going to shoot it down - Japan was preparing to intercept any possible debris from failure or booster stages that threatened their territory
3.) Potential US response was limited because of PRK arrest of 2 US reporters and threats to send them to hard labor camps for 10+years ( they also happen to be female )
4.) Nobody seriously expected the launch to be armed with a real warhead, nor do they expect it to have a satellite payload. Its exactly what it looks like, a test of their ICBM capabilities. The last of which failed spectacuarly and crashed into the Sea of Japan (hence Japan's desire to intercept)
5.) Attempting to intercept is in nobodys interest because if it succeeded then PRK would feel the need to escalate and the loser in this scenario would be the starving people in the PRK that have no clue what's going on. If they missed....well that's just embarrassing as hell.
....
18935.) This has been going on for 2 weeks, where the hell have you people been

4/4/2009 11:24:19 PM

i dont think anyone in their right mind expects nk to hold those 2 bitches in some prison camp for 10 years

4/4/2009 11:25:05 PM

they didn't launch it 2 weeks ago though did they

4/4/2009 11:25:09 PM

Yeah but a test will be the wrong direction and one step closer. Also, in reaction, the UN will slap them in their faces causing them to be more motivated in their hunger to rule the world (kill themselves).

Don't these assholes know the next warhead that goes off will be the end of the world?

OHMIGAHD IM HIDING NOW BYE

lols

4/4/2009 11:25:16 PM

^thanks

4/4/2009 11:26:52 PM

Kiwi, you are seriously one of the dumbest individuals I have ever had the displeasure of interacting with in any medium.

4/4/2009 11:27:53 PM

I'd rather them test the rocket and show that they are attempting to arm themselves further than wait until they have everything in order and then send something with a heavy payload somewhere. At least now all of the nations that will oppose this can stand up and levy some sanctions in hopes of having them back down. It won't work but will happen anyway.

4/4/2009 11:28:40 PM

ahaha I think you're DUMB-ER-ER for believing any of the shit I just posted....

4/4/2009 11:28:53 PM

i'm just glad this one didnt fizzle out 41 seconds into the launch

4/4/2009 11:29:04 PM

they seem to have fixed their premature evacuation

4/4/2009 11:29:55 PM

It stopping 41 seconds into flight would have made tonight more interesting but I too am glad it didn't happen.

4/4/2009 11:30:14 PM

IF it had a warhead.

It's probably just kittens.

4/4/2009 11:30:57 PM

too bad nk didnt hype it up like this in 06...

[Edited on April 4, 2009 at 11:31 PM. Reason : haha god kiwi always manages to post right before me]

4/4/2009 11:31:35 PM

Its a trick. They want us to think that's their best rocket that can't reach the USA but in reality they got some killa nukes waiting that could get to DC.

4/4/2009 11:32:24 PM

4/4/2009 11:33:56 PM

Well at least they didn't set us up the bomb.

4/4/2009 11:36:06 PM

So are they tracking it right now? Or what? Can we get a live feed of its progress?

4/4/2009 11:38:11 PM

i wonder if its hit the ocean floor yet

4/4/2009 11:38:45 PM

i wonder if it splashed real big

4/4/2009 11:39:12 PM

I couldn't find any reports that said if the rocket had touched down yet or not.

4/4/2009 11:40:02 PM

THEY SAID IT WAS A SATELLITE

4/4/2009 11:40:21 PM

it dropped its boosters lol

4/4/2009 11:40:45 PM

i was under the impression it was in the ocean pretty quick successfully...

4/4/2009 11:41:35 PM

I'm glad I don't live further north today lol.

4/4/2009 11:42:04 PM

I heard it turned California gay

oh wait...

4/4/2009 11:42:21 PM

it turned California gay or

it turned California-gay ??

4/4/2009 11:43:13 PM

^lol

4/4/2009 11:43:31 PM

BOTH

So I don't have tv, any place I can watch the news live feed?

4/4/2009 11:47:37 PM

Oxygen has a pretty killer live feed right now

4/4/2009 11:52:47 PM

set em up

4/4/2009 11:55:57 PM