U.N. Statement Calls North Korea Launch Deplorable

U.N. statement calls North Korea launch "deplorable"

From Tim Schwarz, CNN

updated 8:54 AM EDT, Fri April 13, 2012

Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN) -- Officials from the United States and the United Nations say the U.N. Security Council will meet Friday to discuss North Korea's botched long-range missile launch -- an act a U.N officails called deplorable and destabilizing despite its failure.

Amid concerns that North Korea will try to recover from the embarrassing failure with a nuclear test or military move, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned the secretive country's regime not to "undertake further provocative actions that will heighten tension in the region."

The missile launch was heralded by North Korea as "an inspiring deed and an event of historic significance." The missile broke apart shortly after launch Friday morning, then fell into the ocean.

North Korea said the missile was designed to carry an observation satellite into orbit. But the United States, South Korea and Japan said that was a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test.

The launch drew condemnation from United States and countries in the region, as well as an unusual admission of failure from Pyongyang. The normally secretive regime has previously insisted that failed launches had actually been successful.

"Scientists, technicians and experts are now looking into the cause of the failure," the official Korean Central News Agency said in a report, which was also read out in a news broadcast on state-run television.

North Korea had made much of the launch, which coincided with celebrations surrounding the 100th anniversary of the birth of its late founding leader, Kim Il-sung.

The regime had invited journalists and space experts from around the world to view the launch pad and the purported satellite.

North Korea has staged nuclear tests or other events after previous missile-test failures, according to analysts. A South Korean defense ministry official told reporters Friday that another missile and a nuclear test are "highly probable."

A spokesman from the South Korean Defense Ministry said that Seoul was "keeping a close eye on the possibility of North Korea conducting a nuclear test" and that the South Korean military was "fortifying its stance."

North Korea's leadership will likely feel pressure to do something to regain face after such a public humiliation, said said Rory Medcalf, program director of international security at the Lowy Institute -- a think tank in Sydney, Australia.

"Given the technology failure on such an important occasion on the 100th anniversary of Kim Il-sung, and given the failure of the symbolism of that, there's perhaps a need to compensate in some way," Medcalf said.

"I wouldn't exaggerate it, but the chance of a nuclear test this year is now higher than it was yesterday," he said.

The U.N. Security Council will meet Friday on the launch, two U.N. diplomats and a U.S. official told CNN. The meeting had previously been scheduled, U.S. officials said.

Before the launch,, diplomats had warned that Pyongyang would face further isolation if it went ahead.

The U.S. official said that, despite the launch's failure, "it will not change our response."

The last time Pyongyang carried out what it described as a satellite launch, in April 2009, the U.N. Security Council condemned the action and demanded that it not be repeated.

That rocket traveled 2,300 miles before its third stage fell into the Pacific Ocean. And in 2006, a missile failed after about 40 seconds in flight.

Governments insisted that Pyongyang would still face consequences for flaunting U.N. resolutions.

The White House press secretary, in a statement, said that North Korea's failed launch "threatens regional security, violates international law and contravenes its own recent commitments."

The statement added, "North Korea is only further isolating itself by engaging in provocative acts."

The Obama administration says the launch prevents the United States from following through on a deal reached in February to provide much needed food aid to North Korea.

"U.S. delivery of food aid is contingent on our ability to monitor the delivery of that assistance so it goes to North Korea people who are starving and not to elites or the military," a senior administration official said. "North Korea's provocations make it impossible to have confidence that those monitoring-agreements can be implemented."

Noriyuki Shikata, a spokesman for Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, said the international ramifications could be significant. "This is something that we think is a regrettable development," he said.

"Our government strongly criticizes their action," said South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Sung-hwan. "They have ignored the starvation of their people and spent money on missiles. It is very unfortunate."

Vitaly Churkin, Russia's U.N. ambassador, said before the launch that Security Council members didn't have a "clear agreement" about what steps to take if the launch were to go ahead. "But one thing I can tell you: We have unanimity of understanding that if it were to happen, that would be a clear violation of two Security Council resolutions."

Following the rocket's failure, China, the closest ally of North Korea, urged the parties involved to "remain calm and exercise restraint, and not do anything that would harm the peace and stability of the peninsula," according to a statement posted on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The rocket took off at 7:38 a.m. on Friday. It broke into two parts after about two minutes, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.

About six minutes later, the two sections of the rocket separated into smaller pieces, which dropped into the sea, the ministry said.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command officials also tracked the missile.

"Initial indications are that the first stage of the missile fell into the sea 165 km west of Seoul, South Korea," they said in a news release. "The remaining stages were assessed to have failed and no debris fell on land. At no time were the missile or the resultant debris a threat."

The debris is spread over an area about 20 kilometers (12 miles) long, said Kim Kwan-jin, the South Korean defense minister.

South Korea, which has criticized the launch as a "grave provocation," said it was searching the waters near where the rocket fell for debris -- a chance to gain insights into the North's technology.

Joseph Cirincione, president of the global security foundation The Ploughshares Fund, said that the launch's apparent failure "shows the weakness of the North Korea missile program."

"It's a humiliation," he said. "I wouldn't want to be a North Korean rocket scientist today."

The rocket's short, fruitless flight soothed some concerns among North Korea's neighbors, which had feared parts of the projectile could threaten their territory. But the failure continues to raise questions about Pyongyang's next move.

A recent report from South Korean intelligence officials said that North Korea is planning a new nuclear test in the area where it staged previous atomic blasts.

The South Korean intelligence report noted that the two previous rocket launches that Pyongyang said were intended to put satellites into orbit were followed a few weeks or months later by nuclear tests.

Rocket launch may provide intelligence windfall

"Often when they've had failures of this kind, they reach into their bag and find other things to do," said Christopher Hill, a former lead U.S. negotiator at talks over the North Korean nuclear program who now teaches at the University of Denver. "And so I would be concerned about the potential of an actual nuclear test coming up."

The launch Friday came amid North Korean preparations to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea who ruled the Communist state for more than four decades. His birthday on April 15, known as the "Day of the Sun," is a key public holiday.

On Wednesday, North Korea's ruling Workers' Party held a special conference that helped firm up the position of Kim's grandson, Kim Jong Un, the secretive state's new leader.

Korean television showed a somber Kim standing beneath two towering statues of his grandfather and his late father, Kim Jong Il, while receiving applause from party functionaries and the military. Kim Jong Il was given the title of "eternal general secretary" of the Workers' Party, while Kim Jong Un was named the party's first secretary.

CNN's Dan Lothian, Adam Aigner-Treworgy, Larry Shaughnessy, Jill Dougherty, Elise Labott, Stan Grant, Barbara Starr, Paula Hancocks, Richard Roth, Judy Kwon and Hilary Whiteman contributed to this report.

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As North Korean rocket launch nears, the hungry get hungrier

By Jessica Yellin and Lesa Jansen, CNN

updated 4:36 AM EDT, Thu April 12, 2012

Washington (CNN) -- David Austin is one of the few outsiders who has seen firsthand how people live in the North Korean countryside, and he describes a population "lethargic" from malnutrition.

Just two weeks ago, he visited an orphanage as part of his work as the North Korea program director for the relief organization Mercy Corps.

He said the last protein children had eaten was in January -- eggs.

"That tells us not only are they not getting a balanced diet but in terms of the rations, they're getting only about 60% of what a child needs," he said.

Austin describes widespread severe malnourishment and "an entire generation" that is "stunted physically, developmentally because of chronic malnutrition."

No sign of North Korean rocket launch

According to Austin, in seven visits since 2007, he has been to dozens of orphanages and hospitals and more than 19 private homes.

Factfile: North Korea

North Korean citizens bow before the portraits of the founding father Kim Il-Sung, left, and his son Kim Jong-Il, in Pyongyang, North Korea on Monday, April 9. April 15 marks the 100-year anniversary of the founder's birth and journalists have been allowed inside the country.

North Korean technicians check the Unha-3 rocket at Tangachai-ri space center on Sunday, April 8.

A controller is seen from the window of a train along the railway on the west coast Sunday. A controversial missile launch is expected to take place in the coming days. Pyongyang insists it has no bad intentions and has invited foreign journalists to view its launch site.

Citizens dance on Monday during a rehearsal for the commemoration of Kim Il-Sung's 100th birthday anniversary. Japan, the United States and South Korea see the launch -- which would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions -- as a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test. And a South Korean intelligence report says it's likely to precede a nuclear test, as it did in 2006 and 2009.

North Korean soldiers are seen on Sunday from the window of a train along the railway heading from Pyongyang to the North Pyongan Province on the west coast.

A woman plays the piano and entertains in a downtown Pyongyang restaurant Monday. U.S. President Obama said the real consequence for North Korea, should it go through with the launch, is that the country's leaders will miss an opportunity. "I hope that at some point the North Koreans make the decision that it is in their interests to figure out how to feed their people and improve their economy rather than have big parades where they show off weapons," he said in March.

Two women on the the train prepare food for the journalists traveling across the country Sunday.

The dress rehearsal for the celebration continues in the capital Monday.

A pin with the face of Kim Il-Sung is affixed to the uniform of a North Korean soldier standing guard at the space center in Pyongyang on Wednesday, April 11.

A woman ties the branches of apple trees on a farm near Pyongyang on Tuesday, April 10.

Workers and farms are seen through the window of a train as it passes through the country Sunday.

Bicycles line the road Sunday as citizens work the land between Pyongyang and the North Phyongan province.

A North Korean soldier is seen from the window of a train Sunday as he walks near a small town along the railway heading from Pyongyang to the North Pyongan Province on the west coast.

Employees work in a textile factory in Pyongyang on Monday.

People line the street as they wait for a bus on Wednesday.

A dance troupe performs during the opening ceremony of the Spring Arts Festival in Pyongyang on Wednesday.

A band performs during the opening of the Spring Arts Festival.

A building adorned with a huge portrait of the late president Kim Il-Sung is cleaned by workers in Pyongyang on Wednesday.

A glimpse inside North Korea

HIDE CAPTION

Photos: A glimpse inside North Korea

He says he is troubled that the United States plans to call off a massive shipment of food aid as a result of the anticipated rocket launch by North Korea between now and Monday.

Pyongyang insists that the rocket is necessary to put a weather satellite in orbit, but Washington and Seoul consider it a ballistic missile test in disguise. Such launches by North Korea breach U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Under a recent food deal with the United States, North Korea agreed to refrain from long range missile launches and nuclear tests. In exchange, the United States would provide what Austin described as a year's worth of corn-soy porridge mixed with vegetable oil for children younger than 10 and pregnant women.

The food "wouldn't taste delicious but it saves lives," Austin said, noting that it would have helped 2.4 million people.

At the White House, President Barack Obama's aides suggest their hands are tied after Pyongyang announced the launch just weeks after the food deal was agreed.

The North Koreans' "blatant disregard for their commitments makes it impossible for the United States to provide the nutritional assistance that it had hoped to provide for the North Korean people," said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary.

Some observers have doubts about the White House's approach.

"I have real questions about whether we should have linked humanitarian food assistance to the nuclear missile program in the first place," said Mike Green, who was senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council during the Bush administration. "It is not the fault of the average North Korean who needs the food, who is at starvation level, that the regime is developing nuclear missiles."

He said the threatened missile launch was a "provocation that should have been predictable."

But Green acknowledged that if the North Koreans flaunt the deal, sending the food "would be a political liability for the administration at home, and it would look weak internationally."

Austin of Mercy Corps was careful not to criticize the Obama administration. But he did say the administration had previously made it clear it would send food to North Korea if there was a verified need for that aid.

"We know there is a need and we know we can met the need. As a humanitarian organization we are saying there is an opportunity to do that," Austin said. "I don't want to assign blame. But I'm saying there is an opportunity to engage positively and constructively with a group of people the White House describes as innocent and starving, and we can do that."