DPRK says satellite launch successful

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea confirmed on Sunday that it had
sent a communications satellite into orbit. South Korea and the United States
say they detected the launch through their monitoring systems but they haven't
observed anything orbiting in space.

The undated satellite photo provided by Google Earth shows the Musudan-ri missile base in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The DPRK on Sunday launched communications satellite by Kwangmyongsong-2 rocket at local time 11:32 (02:32 GMT Sunday), South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported, by quoting Japan's NHK, Sunday. (Xinhua Photo)

Unlike its two previous secret tests, the DPRK went high-profile this time.
Three days ago it announced the time range it would send a satellite into space.
Now, it's telling the world it has successfully completed the task.

South Korea and the United States' intelligence sources say the launch took
place at 11:30 am local time in the north-east of the DPRK.

Heading towards the Pacific Ocean, the rocket travelled once across Japanese
airspace for almost seven minutes. Japan deployed patriot missile batteries and
counted down to lift-off so they could shoot down any debris from a failed
launch. But Japan found no debris on its territory.

Hours later, the DPRK declared it a success. But the US says it hasn't
observed any object entering orbit. Instead, they found the first stage of the
rocket had fallen into the waters between South Korea and Japan.

A South Korean soldier watches a TV news report on DPRK's rocket launch, at a railway station in Seoul April 5, 2009. DPRK launched a long-range rocket over Japan on Sunday. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

The conflicting claims left one question unsolved: was the rocket actually
carrying a communications satellite or a missile in disguise?

South Korean officials said it's too early to tell, as they are still
clarifying the details. For the time being, they say it appears the DPRK has
launched a satellite.