DPRK says satellite launch successful

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Source: CCTV.com | 04-06-2009 08:44

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea confirmed on Sunday that it had sent a communications satellite into orbit. South Korea and the United States say they detected the launch through their monitoring systems but they haven't observed anything orbiting in space.

The undated satellite photo provided by Google Earth  shows the Musudan-ri missile base in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The DPRK on Sunday launched communications satellite by Kwangmyongsong-2 rocket at local time 11:32 (02:32 GMT Sunday), South  Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported, by quoting Japan's NHK, Sunday. (Xinhua Photo)

Unlike its two previous secret tests, the DPRK went high-profile this time. Three days ago it announced the time range it would send a satellite into space. Now, it's telling the world it has successfully completed the task.

South Korea and the United States' intelligence sources say the launch took place at 11:30 am local time in the north-east of the DPRK.

Heading towards the Pacific Ocean, the rocket travelled once across Japanese airspace for almost seven minutes. Japan deployed patriot missile batteries and counted down to lift-off so they could shoot down any debris from a failed launch. But Japan found no debris on its territory.