North Korea's Taepodong 2 Nuclear Missile

North KoreaTapodong 2 Missile Launcher

North Korea launched a series of short- and medium-range missiles, including one long-range Taepodong-2 ballistic missile. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined that the tests were not a threat to the United States.

Taepodong 2 Missile

 The TD-2 failed 40 seconds after the launch, but it caused worry among foreign governments because the TD-2 had an estimated range of 3,600 to 4,300 km. North Korea’s neighbors and the United States condemned the tests and Japan sought an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to consider penalties. Ri Pyong Dok, a North Korean Foreign Ministry official, stated in response to international protests, “The missile launch is an issue that is entirely within our sovereignty. No one has the right to dispute it." In September 2006, the Japanese and Australian governments imposed economic sanctions on North Korea.

North Korea launched a three-stage rocket in what North Korean officials said would place its Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite into space. Pak Tok Hun, North Korea’s deputy UN ambassador, responded to international protest of the launch by saying, “Every country has the right, the inalienable right, to use the outer space peacefully” and it was “not democratic” for the Security Council to prevent North Korea from its launch activities.

According to NORAD and the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), “stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan. The remaining stages, along with the payload itself, landed in the Pacific Ocean” and “no object entered orbit.” On April 13, 2009, the U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea’s rocket launch and stated that further launch activities would result in sanctions.