PYONGYANG, North Korea — In Pyongyang, North Koreans clinked beer mugs and danced in the streets to celebrate the country’s first satellite in space. In Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, leaders pushed for consequences for Wednesday’s successful rocket launch, widely seen as a test that takes the country one step closer to being capable of lobbing nuclear bombs over the Pacific.
The surprising, successful launch of a three-stage rocket - similar in design to a model capable of carrying a nuclear-tipped warhead as far as California - raises the stakes in the international standoff over North Korea’s expanding atomic arsenal. As Pyongyang refines its technology, its next step may be conducting its third nuclear test, experts warn.
The U.N. Security Council, which has punished North Korea repeatedly for developing its nuclear program, condemned the launch after a private meeting Wednesday and said it will urgently consider “an appropriate response.” The White House called the launch a “highly provocative act that threatens regional security,” and even the North’s most important ally, China, expressed regret.
In Pyongyang, however, pride over the scientific advancement outweighed the fear of greater international isolation and punishment. North Korea, though struggling to feed its people, is now one of the few countries to have successfully launched a working satellite into space from its own soil; bitter rival South Korea is not on the list, though it has tried.
“It’s really good news,” North Korean citizen Jon Il Gwang said as he and scores of other Pyongyang residents poured into the streets after a noon announcement to celebrate the launch by dancing in the snow. “It clearly testifies that our country has the capability to enter into space.”
Wednesday’s launch was North Korea’s fifth bid since 1998. An April launch failed in the first of three stages, raising doubts among outside observers whether North Korea could fix what was wrong in just eight months, but those doubts were erased Wednesday.
The Unha rocket, named after the Korean word for “galaxy,” blasted off from the Sohae launch pad in Tongchangri, northwest of Pyongyang, shortly before 10 a.m., just three days after North Korea indicated that technical problems might delay the launch.
A South Korean destroyer patrolling the waters west of the Korean Peninsula immediately detected the launch. Japanese officials said the first rocket stage fell into the Yellow Sea and a second stage fell into the Philippine Sea hundreds of miles farther south.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed that “initial indications are that the missile deployed an object that appeared toachieve orbit.”
In an indication that North Korea’s leadership was worried about the success of the launch, the plan was kept quiet inside North Korea until a special noon broadcast on state TV declared the launch a success. Pyongyang was muchmore open during its last attempt in April, and even took the unusual step of inviting scores of foreign journalists for the occasion, but that rocket splintered shortly after takeoff.
At one hotel bar Wednesday, North Koreans watched raptly, cheering and applauding at the close of the brief broadcast. As vans mounted with loudspeakers drove around the capital announcing the news, North Koreans ran outside to celebrate.
Pyongyang did not immediately release images of the launch, but hours later Associated Press reporters at the Pyongyang satellite command center viewed a playback showing the rocket blasting off against a snowy backdrop in the northwest. The white rocket was emblazoned with the name “Unha-3” and the North Korean flag.
Director Kim Hye Jin said the satellite was broadcasting “Song of Gen. Kim Il Sung” and “Song of Gen. Kim Jong Il” in space. He reiterated North Korea’s intention to keep launching satellites in the future.
Space officials said the rocket is meant to send a satellite into orbit to study crops and weather patterns.
The U.N. imposed two rounds of sanctions after nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009and ordered the North not to conduct any launches using ballistic missile technology. Pyongyang maintains its right to develop a civilian space program, saying the satellite will send back crucial scientific data.
The White House condemned what National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor called “yet another example of North Korea’s pattern of irresponsible behavior.”
Vietor said the international community must “send a clear message that its violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions have consequences.”
China expressed its unhappiness but called for a moderate response from the United Nations.
“We express regret at [North Korea’s] launch in spite of the extensive concerns ofthe international community,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said. He added that China “believes U.N. Security Council reaction should be prudent and moderate and conducive to maintaining stability and avoiding escalation of the situation.”
Hong said dialogue and negotiations are the way forward.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of overreacting to the launch “out of hostile feelings.” Information for this article was contributed by Kim Kwang Hyon, Jon Chol Jin, Foster Klug, Hyung-jin Kim, Sam Kim, Peter Enav, Matthew Pennington, Noel Waghorn, Mari Yamaguchi and Elaine Kurtenbach of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 12/13/2012