Launch ends in failure and embarrassment for North Korea, breaking up only minutes after lift-off A much-heralded test of North Korea’s rocket technology has ended in failure and embarrassment for the regime in Pyongyang less than two minutes after lift-off. The Unha-3 rocket, which Washington claimed was cover for a ballistic missile test and drew condemnation from around the world, exploded into about 20 pieces fell into the Yellow Sea. The North Koreans ignored eleventh-hour pleas from the US, South Korea and Japan not to go through with the launch, insisting its sole purpose was to put an earth observation satellite into orbit

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