By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S.
officials say a rocket launched by North Korea failed moments after
being fired, but the Obama administration still described the launch as a
"provocative action" that threatens regional security. It said it has
lost confidence in Pyongyang and would carry out its threat to halt a
planned delivery of food aid to the communist country.
In a statement, White House
spokesman Jay Carney said the actions of the North Korean regime were
further isolating it from the international community.
"While this action is not
surprising, given North Korea's pattern of aggressive behavior, any
missile activity by North Korea is of concern to the international
community," Carney said.
His statement came after
the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command
said the first stage of the North Korean rocket fell to the Yellow Sea
and that the remaining stages failed.
North Korea had said for
weeks it would launch a satellite over the East China Sea. The North
says its satellite launch is not prohibited, and is, part of
celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of the regime's
founder, the late Kim Il Sung. It claims it was a peaceful mission to
place a satellite in space.
The U.S. and much of the rest of the world, however, consider it a test of a long-range missile.
An administration official,
speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive
developments, said the planned delivery of food aid to North Korea
depended on monitoring agreements with Pyongyang that would ensure the
assistance would reach the people of North Korea, not the elites and the
military. The official said the U.S. now has no confidence those
agreements can be implemented.
The U.N. Security Council,
where the United States is currently serving in the rotating presidency,
would meet on Friday morning to discuss the North Korean action, an
official said.
But the U.S. is not
expected to seek an additional Security Council resolution against North
Korea. Another administration official said existing sanctions
resolutions against North Korea are adequate and said their enforcement
could be "ratcheted up."
The administration believes
U.S. sanctions against North Korea, particularly on its ability to
obtain advanced electronics for guidance systems, have restricted its
proliferation activities..
"North Korea's
long-standing development of missiles and pursuit of nuclear weapons
have not brought it security - and never will," Carney said in his
statement. "North Korea will only show strength and find security by
abiding by international law, living up to its obligations, and by
working to feed its citizens, to educate its children and to win the
trust of its neighbors."
The North Korean action
promptly injected itself into U.S. politics, with the Republican's
likely presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, accusing the Obama
administration of "incompetence" that he said emboldened North Korea to
launch the rocket.
"Instead of approaching
Pyongyang from a position of strength, President Obama sought to appease
the regime with a food-aid deal that proved to be as naïve as it was
short-lived," Romney said.
The launch erases gains the
Obama administration had claimed in nudging the North Koreans back to
international disarmament talks and leaves the problem of an
unpredictable nuclear-equipped North Korea little changed from where
Obama found it when he took office. Obama had hoped to use food aid to
spur true negotiations and has few other means to draw North Korean to
the bargaining table without embarrassing concessions.
___
AP National Security Writer Anne Gearan contributed to this report.
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