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Subscribe to RSSUS officials say an attempted rocket launch in North Korea ended in failure when the rocket broke up shortly after launch. NBC's Bob Windrem reports.
Updated at 10:50 a.m. ET: The United States has canceled a proposed food aid deal with North Korea following over its attempt to launch a long-range rocket taking a satellite into orbit.
Senior administration officials told NBC News the deal with Pyongyang is off after the rocket was fired. It failed shortly after launch and landed in the sea off the South Korea coast.
"We are not going forward with an agreement to provide them with any assistance," White House National Security Council spokesman Ben Rhodes told reporters traveling with President Barack Obama to Florida.
He added that the U.S. and its allies will "take additional steps" if there are more "provocative actions."
Earlier, the G-8 group of countries on Friday condemned North Korea, and a leading Republican said even a failed test would help North Korea develop "technology capable of delivering a nuclear weapon that can threaten American cities tomorrow."
A U.S. official told NBC News that the launch was the fourth time the North Koreans had tried to launch this kind of missile, saying it should serve as a "real wake-up call" for the country's new regime.
In a statement, foreign ministers of the G-8 -- made up of the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia, the U.K., Germany, France and Italy -- raised the possibility of action by the United Nations.
"We, the G-8 Foreign Ministers, condemn the launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which is a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1695, 1718, and 1874," the statement said.
Reuters graphic showing the rocket's path
"Sharing the view that the launch undermines regional peace and stability, we call on the DPRK to abstain from further launches using ballistic missile technology or other actions which aggravate the situation on the Korean Peninsula," it added.
It said they were "ready to consider, with others, taking measures responding to all activities of the DPRK that violate U.N. Security Council Resolutions."
They said they might also call for what it described an "appropriate response" by the U.N. Security Council.
How will North Korea deal with failure?
The foreign ministers urged North Korea to abandon "all its nuclear weapons and its existing nuclear and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner," end its uranium enrichment activities, and take "concrete and irreversible steps toward denuclearization."
A U.S. official told NBC News that the missile had failed shortly after launch, before the news was confirmed by North Korea itself.
"The North Korean missile failed shortly after launch," the official said. "Think about it: This is the fourth failure to launch this missile as it was designed, and should serve as a real wake-up call for the new government."
North Korea rocket breaks up after much-touted launch
"Their efforts to draw attention to the program certainly seem to have backfired in this case," the official added. "Everyone will be watching closely to see how the government handles this first real test."
U.S. Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl said in a statement that the missile launch was "yet another provocative action undertaken by the regime in Pyongyang."
"The rocket that the North Koreans attempted to launch employs technology that is relatively identical to that of a ballistic missile, including similar guidance and propulsion systems," he said. "Even a failed launch can provide useful information for North Korea's development of technology capable of delivering a nuclear weapon that can threaten American cities tomorrow."
He said the North Korean regime had "once again" demonstrated "complete disregard for international sanctions and its proclivity for worthless commitments."
Kyl said the Obama administration should "abandon its naive negotiations with North Korea (and Iran), and instead focus on fully funding missile defenses that can protect the United States from ballistic missile threats."
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that the official North Korean news agency, KCNA, confirmed the rocket had failed to enter orbit about four hours after the launch.
KCNA said that the scientists and engineers were working to find out the cause of failure.
In Japan, there was relief at the failure, but local media were asking why it took the government 40 minutes to confirm the launch to the Japanese public.
NBC's Andrea Mitchell talks to Rachel Maddow about what the recent developments mean in the broader context of America's relationship with North Korea.
Japan's prime minister Yoshihiko Noda urged Pyongyang to abide by all United Nations resolutions and demanded that it takes concrete steps in resolving the various outstanding issues including their nuclear and missile development, as well as addressing the highly charged issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North korean agents.
Japan currently has various sanctions in place against North Korea, among them a ban of all exports and imports and also restricting entry of all North Korean vessels.
Arata Yamamoto, NBC News producer in Tokyo, contributed to this report.
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If North Korea has money for rockets then they have money for food !!!
So we were feeding the North Koreans so there government could build missles, you know if people get hungery enough maybe they will overthrow the government. Even if they don't succede there would be a lot fewer mouths to feed. Kind of a fuc$ed way of looking at it but oh well.
i don't agree with cutting food aid off. The people this hurts had nothing to do with this launch and most likely didn't even know this was happening. Sanctions never work. All they dois postpone the inevitable. If we don't like this government and what they are doing sooner or later Kimng Sung II will have to be taken out.
He was already taken out. It's Kim Un now (think I missed a word in that name there, but whatever) that's supposedly running things.
The food only helps the regime enforce its rule. No matter how much we give them, it doesn't make things any better.
Kim Un Hung
I knew that it wouldn't hit its target much less complete the trajectory. How would I know, you ask. It's because I lived in Russia and the Ukraine and I have seen the sad, sad condition that the military is in those countries. The personnel are always in a drunken stupor and the infrastructure is so badly in shambles that a whopping majority of the ships and planes are in a state of gross disrepair. North Korea relies heavily upon the countries that made up the former Soviet Union to outfit its defense ministry and the quality of parts and materiel that N. Korea gets from CIS nations are shoddy at best. If I were living in N. Korea I would be more afraid of being killed by a weapon of mass destruction launched from within domestic borders than from one launched from a US site or one of her allies. With that said, I really feel safe and secure from whatever N. Korea can manufacture. The odds of getting struck by lightning are far greater than being destroyed by anything that is North Korean.
The odds of getting struck by lightning, while being bitten by a shark carrying a terrorist while holding a winning Lotto ticket are greater than getting killed by North Korea.
Well, unless you live in South Korea. Apparently SOME of the NK artillery works.
One in six Americans know hunger on a daily basis, as long as that is the case, we have no business sending food aid anywhere. Take care of our own first. As fuel prices soar, so too does the price of food. There is no foreseeable end to hunger in America.
If 1 in 6 are hungry then they don't khow how to cook eggs ! Less then $2 / dz.
People in America being hungry (or "knowing hunger," or whatever statistically disingenuous term you want to use) is not a supply problem. There is far, far more food available domestically than we consume, or that we COULD consume. It's a political problem. We do food distribution already, and if for some reason it's not adequate, there's practically NO political drive to fix it. This is not a plausible reason to suspend aid.
Hmmm. Would anyone care to bet that the U.S. doesn't have the capability of disabling a missile during the launch phase?
We do, but that would be mean.
Come on, they have a hard enough time without our interference.
I'm not so sure the failed launch didn't accomplish its goal. Reminds me of watching a young Nolan Ryan bounce fastballs in front of the plate and send a couple over the catcher's head into the stands.
Which is more disturbing: living next to a country that can launch missles with reasonable accuracy or one that just throws 'em up there and hopes for the best...
Epic Zipperhead Failure! LOL
Why are we giving N. Korea food aid/money ? The food, if it went to the common people fine, but everyone knows it will go to the government officials and the armed forces. The U.N. and USA are so ignorant sometimes, they think they can buy everyone off. They just will never learn.
North Korean science is a joke compared to the South Koreans. 4 failed IBM launches--in a row--and 3 failed nuclear explosions that failed to produce any measurable power (less than a 10th of the one dropped on Japan). They should just give it up!
Apparently they are to busy starving their people and failing at science!
So how is cutting off food aid going to teach the North Korean government a lesson? They will go on as they always do and the people will put up and shut up.
It won't. But what else are we going to do?
@SF- Stop treating North Korea and other countries we disagree with like children,and speaking of children, stop abusing children in the form of food trade embargoes.
Food aid....that is ridiculous. We have starving folks here in the US and we are going to spend our tax dollars to give North Korea food. This is not our responsibility. Our government should be taking care of US Citizens, not communists.
NK's next major launch will be a chain of "diet control" camps to cater exclusively to America's and Europe's overfed, obese masses.
As we should. Giving them food aid is not getting to the hungry and it's not changing their behavior.
Rich, that is one of the most ignorant posts I've read in here.
Why didn't you incude Presidents Bush and Clinton in your little tantrum?
They caved to NK in the hopes of opening dialog/diplomacy but ended up with egg on their faces.
So tell me Rich, why were they left off of your post?????????
This should be good! However, I'm sure that my request will either be met with silence or another inane post.
Why were we giving those mf'ers food in the first place!?!? So awesome the rocket failed. That little kid is in way over his head. Should stick to raiding the old man's porn collection!
When was the last time yo saw a country with any sort of rocket technology pull up a platform on wheels to stand on to get a better look at the engine? Really?
That rocket wasn't going anywhere.
More importantly, we shouldn't have been negotiating any deals with them for anything, PERIOD!
When will we learn. Let China deal with them.
We don't have enough money in this country to feed our own people, programs being cut for the elderly, poor, and schools, BUT we have money to send food to the enemy who would kill us in a heartbeat if they could.
This is just ONE waste of American tax payer money. Think of the thousands of foreign aid that your tax dollars are wasted on, and if it were stop now, TODAY, how much money we would have to pay our debts, and give back to the people who WORK and have to PAY taxes to support those foreign aid programs.
We could just as well be working and supporting ourselves and 2 other families who don't give a sh*t about us!
This is where 60 yrs ago our government went of the rails. Thinking they could BUY LOYALTIES, whether it be money or food.
Well guess what it has not worked for even one second. If our government spent as much money on the average American as it does on other people in other countries we would not have anyone homeless, hungry, or without health care.
Steven100
It's the American way - Tell the world what we want them to do. Then send them money to bribe them into doing it. If they don't do what we want - then impose sanctions. (The politians call that International Diplomacy) Meanwhile our own citizens get what ever crumbs happen to fall off the fat cats table. (If I remember right that is called "trickle down")
No matter what it's called or how it works in the end the politians make sure its you and I who get shafted.
Ridiculous. Feeding/clothing/housing the poor in America is not a supply problem. There is plenty of all that stuff to go around.
It's a POLITICAL problem. Whatever politicians you may support have not convinced enough voting Americans to have more of their money spent on the poor (because we do spend a lot already). The amount we spend on foreign aid is a fraction of what we spend on entitlements.
There's plenty of argument to be made that our government spends money on the wrong things, but to blame it on foreign distributions is asinine.
Yesterday NK had a threat of launching a rocket, and a food deal. Today they have a failed launch and no food deal. Brilliant strategy, just brilliant.
North Korea has nothing to fear from the UN when they have a UN Security Council Veto sitting in their pocket. Also, it is a fat chance we move militarily against North Korea barring some kind of military move by the North Koreans. This is just another staring game and we will cave because it is cheaper to acquiesce than to confront.
That veto wasn't too happy about the rocket launch either. I wouldn't bet on China to back them all the time.
They will back them come hell or high water. China might not approve of their actions, they might punish privately them for being aggressive, but in NO WAY, SHAPE, or FORM, would they let anything resembling harsh action that could lead to military action happen to North Korea. There is too much at risk for China. They will push other measures.
we should have cut them off long, long ago. they just feed their army with the food we give them.
wake up! if they have the money to do underground nuclear bomb testing and even making attempts at firing off rockets into space, then they could feed their people if they wanted to...
Obama will look the fool if his sanctions strategy with both Iran and N. Korea do not produce results. He will go down as a great leader if they succeed. Israel is not going to wait around all summer with the clock ticking and neither is the Election
I think we should show them how a long range rocket works by sending a nuke over for them to look at closely.
While I do not agree with what the North Korean government is trying to do, I also disagree with our government not sending them food. Why punish the starving people of North Korea, when it is their government that is corrupt? If you look at the new leader, he is definitely not starving is he? Not sending them food will only hurt the people, not the government officials. I also think that if we sent them food, and the people knew where it was coming from, it might change their views of the USA and start them questioning what their government's agendas really are. According to Wiki 900,000 to 3,500,000 million people in NK have died from starvation or hunger related issues! This is just another country where the
"people" are being condemned because of their evil controlling government. I believe the time has come for the USA to show North Korea and the rest of the world what it really means to be an American! Knowing what the right thing is and not doing it is worse than doing nothing. Having a surplus of food and letting it rot while people are starving? How wonderful of us. I want to be able to once again say, "I am proud to be an American" and mean it. Don't you?
We all want that, but things are not so simple. All food aid we provide has to go through the NK government. THEY decide who gets the food. And they distribute it according to their own twisted goals.
In addition, I can't help but recall a documentary many years ago showing North Korean soldiers stripping crates of food aid of any symbols reminiscent of the US and replacing them with NK flag stamps. Sending them aid only helps the regime. The people continue to suffer no matter what we do.
Sanctions? Give me a break! I do not believe for one second that much of the food and everything else we have given them has made it to the people. We really have no recourse and those helping them better realize once they have the capability, they too are vulnerabe to use of the weapons. The leadership is crazy enough to use it and believes no one would dare retaliate to a nuclear strike and I have no faith we would. Too late by then anyways is what our leadership would determine.