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1st LD Writethru: S.Korean president denounces DPRK's rocket launch

Xinhua, February 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Sunday denounced the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s rocket launch, describing it as an unacceptable provocative act, her office said.

Park told an emergency meeting of the national security council that Pyongyang conducted an unacceptable provocative act by launching a long-range missile following the fourth nuclear test a month earlier in defiance of repeated warnings from the international community.

The emergency meeting was held right after the DPRK launched a rocket at about 9:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) from its Tongchanr-ri rocket station on the west coast.

The launch came a day after Pyongyang notified the International Maritime Organization of its revised plan to move up its launch window to Feb. 7-14 from the previous Feb. 8-25.

The DPRK tested what it claimed as its first hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6. It was the fourth of nuclear detonations following tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013 each.

Park said that the DPRK has advanced its missile technology for the single purpose of maintaining its regime, calling the launch a challenge to the international community as it was carried out amid ongoing discussions in the UN Security Council about new sanctions against the DPRK's fourth nuclear test. Endit