US president condemns North Korea launch as reckless, provocative

Obama said nuclear-armed North Korea had tested a ballistic missile in defiance of U.N. resolutions. South Korea, which called the act "reckless", and Japan put their militaries on heightened alert.

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China and Russia pleaded for restraint while the U.N. Security Council was called into emergency session.

 

Comments of censure were quickly fired from world capitals after the isolated Stalinist state launched what it said was a satellite broadcasting "immortal revolutionary songs".

 

"Now is the time for a strong international response. North Korea must know that the path to security and respect will never come through threats and illegal weapons," Obama said in a speech on nuclear proliferation in Prague.

 

A statement released by his office earlier called the launch a "provocative act" showing that North Korea "has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations."

 

The United States believes the missile carrier could reach Alaska.

 

The rocket flew over Japanese territory and some of the booster engines landed off the Japanese coast but the government took no action to shoot it down as it had warned it might. But Japan has warned the North of new sanctions.

 

"It is an extremely provocative action. Japan can never overlook it," Japans Prime Minister Taro Aso told reporters. He said Japan would work with other nations to take action against North Korea.

 

South Korea put its 680,000 military on heightened alert and a presidential spokesman called the launch a "reckless" threat to international security, threatening a firm response.

 

"Regardless of any North Korean claims, this is provocative activity which threatens stability and peace on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia," said Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan.

 

Yu noted that the launch "required an enormous amount of money, which could have been used to solve its chronic food shortage."

 

The European Union, Britain, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand all joined the condemnation.

 

 

The United States and Japan called for the emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on Sunday.

 

U.N. 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."

 

China, Pyongyang’s closest ally, and Russia both urged restraint.

 

"We hope relevant parties will remain calm and restrained, handle the situation properly, and together maintain peace and stability in the region," Chinas foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement.

 

"We call on all involved states to show restraint in their evaluations and actions in the situation that has arisen," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said in a statement.

 

An official in Russia’s foreign ministry was quoted earlier by the state Novosti news agency as saying Moscow was examining if the launch violated UN Security Council resolutions.

 

China, Russia, the United States, South Korea and the United Nations have all tried to engage the North in talks on ending its nuclear weapons program.

 

The secretive Pyongyang government has regularly ignored international pleas to make concessions. It has technically remained at war with South Korea since their 1950-1953 conflict, which ended without a peace treaty.