Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. AFP FILE PHOTO
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned North Korea鈥檚 launch Sunday of a long-range rocket and said it was a violation of UN Security resolutions.
READ: North Korea launches space rocket; defies threats
The launch was 鈥渁bsolutely intolerable,鈥� Abe told reporters as it came despite repeated protests by the international community. He also called it a 鈥渃lear violation鈥� of UN Security Council resolutions.
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The rocket took off at around 9:00 am Pyongyang time (0030 GMT), according to the South Korean defence ministry which was monitoring the launch site.
North Korea had labelled the launch part of a purely scientific space programme, but most of the world viewed it as a disguised ballistic missile test and the nuclear-armed state鈥檚 latest step towards a weapons delivery system capable of striking the US mainland.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a hastily arranged press conference that the government so far had judged that no part of the rocket had fallen within Japan鈥檚 territory. TVJ
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