The unidentified military source was quoted as saying that the DPRK rocket, which was launched at 9:30 a.m. local time (0030 GMT), disappeared from radars six minutes later at a location in waters southwest of the southern resort island of Jeju.
As the rocket disappeared within the detectable range of radars, the military saw a high possibility for the failure, according to the report.
A South Korea’s defense ministry official told Xinhua that whether the rocket launch failed hasn’t been determined yet, noting that the military is now analyzing the launch.
The DPRK rocket was launched from its main Tongchang-ri rocket base on the west coast, a day after Pyongyang notified the International Maritime Organization of its revised plan to move up the launch window to Feb. 7-14 from the previous Feb. 8-25.
UN Security Council resolutions ban the DPRK from test-firing a rocket by use of ballistic missile technology. Rockets and ballistic missiles have overlapping technologies. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
