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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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Leave a Comment:
So who suffers ,it's the Koren people. This war mongering President in office should be impeached. He has stirred more turmoil in the world than any other President including Bush, LBJ,or even FDR. It has to stop. The Koren people are going to be backed into a corner and back the new leader even more. Kindest Regards Zulu2
Wow, you live in a very slanted world view don't you. No one created more distrust of the United States in the world that Bush. Most of the developed world opposed his war in Iraq, but he went anyway just to spite them.
Andrea Mitchell talks to Rachel Maddow ? ?!?!?!?
Isn't that like 'Moe talks to Curly" ?
Ok so they Failed the Launch, I'd like to know what was AF 1 doing in the air,Here's more Tax money out the door
We don't need them Flying around for no reason.
Shocking news. The president travels and planes are expensive.
That's sarcasm if you don't get it.
US cancels food aid....
Why the @!$%# would we give them food in the first place? Seriously, if we feed their people then they can spend more time on rockets. Once their people get hungry enough they'll fight back or... they will all just die and nothing will be left to worry about.
World leaders and our government just have no @!$%#ing clue how to deal with issues.
All those people talking @!$%# about their failed launch are idiots. Rocket science is just that, rocket science. How many rockets did we lose while we were getting into space in the 50's and 60's? Even after we had a good idea what we were doing we still lost more rockets and even a couple of space shuttles. You morons think of that or did you conveniently forget? It's only time before they get more reliable, only time.
We should have applied the same stance with Pakistan when we found Bin Laden livin' it up there. We could use the billions of aid here at home.
The difference is that we need Pakistan for our war in Afghanistan. We transport our supplies through Pakistan and it would extremely expensive for us if they refused to let us do that anymore. Unless we finally declare northern Pakistan part of the war and occupy it by force. Instead of letting the Taliban trapse back and forth across the border as they please.
Barack Obama = Neville Chamberlain - lots of talk and plenty of inaction to boot. "Peace for our time" What about peace for my grandchildren and their children?
The food aid was only going to the NK SOLDIERS anyway. When we were dropping food supplies over Somalia, the warlords were killing the citizens and taking all the grain. No different here. If the citizens were lucky enough to get any of the food, the NK government would come in and kill them and take it. This is how rogue nations are and yes NK, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq & Afghanistan; well most of the ME, are axis of evil. Were before & when Bush said it and still are today. You can't change bohemians. The only thing they know is torture and spreading of fear upon the innocent. We should sell them wheat for the same price they sale us oil. Seems like a fiar trade to me. If we get the same price, then we can slash oil prices by a few dollars per gallon.
Food aid??? WTF? When are we going to STOP this crap? People need food in the United States! God this Government just don't get it. Hey! Remember you work for US. Yes, us and the U.S.
Actually, we have an over abundance of food in the United States. Every year millions of tons of grain rot in Iowa silos because selling it would drive the prices down to the point that it wouldn't be profitable to grow it in the first place.
Iowa was originally a vast plain, but these days you find forests everywhere because most farmers can't farm a third of their property due to subsidies and cost adjustments. Farmers find it more beneficial to let large parts of land become forests and rent the area out to deer hunters, which apparently doesn't affect the subsidies for not growing any crops there.
USA doesnt think about the "people",just worry about that stinky rocket,as usual,they dont care about us the citizens,government is afraid of every thing,they should go to a mental treatment
Its not our responsiblity to feed other countries , we offered aid to the country for stipulation they didnt pursue nuclear weapons or the ability to launch them. They screwed the pooch on it and unfortunately the people will suffer but that is not our fault.
50 years worth of sanctions did not change Cuba. So why would they change Iran and N Korea?? We could simply be PUSHING Iran into a war as they retaliate for the damage done to them by sanctions
Israel bombed Syria's nuke facilities and NOTHING was done in retaliation
D'oh! Sounds like a Homer Simpson moment...the N. Korean leadership must be comprised of a bunch of dufuses. They hype this event, gather a bunch of foreign adversaries to witness it, totally screw up, then lose basic aid to feed their starving masses. Can you say, "totally impotent" or "totally inept?"
Maybe Obama will run for President of North Korea after his November defeat. He is more capable than Kim in creating a science and technology challenged government.
I have a better punishment. Force them to read newsvine comments everyday.
So they can afford a multi million dollar rocket but they can't afford take out ?
Millions wasted by their own hands while their people go hungry !
Is the food aid from the US sent directly to the Kim's ?
Is the ' food aid ' really money from Odumbo for the failing rocket ?
It's sad that so many in North Korea are not getting food aid now, because of their idiotic leaders. Can you imagine a revolution in North Korea. That would be ugly.
You simply can not hide nuclear weapons. No matter how much shielding you give them they still stick out like a sore thumb against background neutron/ gamma radiation to a radiation detecting satellite. Therefore a preempt is always a viable option since you know their exact GPS location
When is Obama going to stop acting like Neville Chamberlin, with all the rogue nations in the world? One more" good gesture" by the US, that was" *hit" on, by the North Koreans!
Food should NEVER be used as a weapon....What kind of people are we becoming? Find something else...or find a better approach.
If they have money to shoot rockets into the air, they have money to feed their people. The U.S. should NOT be giving them ANYTHING in the future. This is totally outrageous that we are feeding them when they are wastefully spending money on technology. This is especially outrageous when our own foods prices are skyrocketing and we are giving food away to other countries. We may be blessed here in this country, but let's feed our own people FIRST. It's not up to one country to feed the entire world at the expense of its citizens.
I bet wall st uses this as another excuse to raise oil prices again.
Where in the "F" is China in all this? They are not part of the G-8 summit. I would not be surprised if the Chinese were not encouraging the North Koreans to launch rockets and weapons while their people are starving. We keep thinking that China is our friend, but in reality they are as big a enemy as we have anywhere. They have spied and stolen our technology legally and illegally. Our government does nothing to stop them out of fear of their shear military size. China fortified North Korea with troops during the Korean War that enabled them to run over American positions with sheer numbers of troops. We live in an unethical age, with immoral actions. This is not just isolated to the United States, but rather is prevalent throughout the world.
The United States military is both larger and better equipped than China. China has been making moves lately to increase the size of its military, but currently the United States outspends our nearest military competitor by 17 to 1.
What we do fear from China is that they will cut off our supply of cheap goods.
Why are we providing food aid to North Korea when we have people in our own country struggling to eat? If North Korea needs food, maybe they should work on planting crops instead of launching rockets. They may have better results.
Good starve them , maybe they will overthrow the regime. We gave them stipulations for recieving aid they broke it and its their fault. The goverment is at fault and too bad the people will pay but it has to happen.
Yeah, their new leader doesn't care. He looks pretty well fed to me
We need to feed the poor in the United States!
Let them eat rice & crackers
I think the poor in the United States should eat more than rice and crackers.
10:50 a.m. update
Yikes! The first sentence and the third from last paragraph! Get some fifth graders to proof read your stories!
4:11 p.m.
The third from last pargraph disappeared but the first sentence of the article is still there. Amazing.