The reported presence of representatives at North Korea’s rocket launch will also cast an uncomfortable shadow over last week’s talks in Istanbul between Iran and world powers over the future of its nuclear programme.
It was last Friday morning that North Korea launched its much-hyped rocket in defiance of international pressure to cancel, before it disintegrated over the Yellow Sea only minutes after take off.
North Korea admitted that it had failed in its intention of putting a satellite into orbit following the rocket launch, which was regarded by the United States and its allies as a disguised missile test.
The rocket launch was intended as a highlight of a sequence of carefully choreographed events to mark not only the centenary of the state founder but also to solidify the power transfer of the young incoming leader Kim Jong-un.
Officials in Washington and Tokyo are believed to have asked Beijing to consider supporting UN action against North Korea following the launch of the rocket launch.
Despite the failure of the launch, North Korea will reportedly push for a bigger rocket as part of a five-year space programme. The Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper, said that the launch was part of the North’s five-year space rocket programme which began this year and is aimed at helping the country’s “economic development”.
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