North Korean Rocket Launched

Officials in Japan, South Korea and the United States have confirmed that North Korea has launched a long-range rocket which appears to have passed over Japan.

The government in Tokyo says the rocket's first booster stage appears to have dropped into the Sea of Japan, with the second booster stage splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

North Korea had said it intended to launch an experimental communications satellite, but the United States, South Korea and Japan say the launch is actually the test of a Taepodong-2 missile, which is designed to carry a warhead as far as Alaska.