Philippines deplores North Korea rocket launch

South Korean people watch a TV screen showing a graphic of North Korea's rocket launch at a train station in Seoul on Friday. North Korea launched a long-range rocket that appears to have disintegrated soon after blastoff and fallen into the ocean. AFP

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines condemned  North Korea’s  launch of a long-range rocket that disintegrated soon after blastoff as it urged Pyongyang to “desist from acts of provocation.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs said North Korea proceeded early Friday with its planned launch in defiance of the United Nations Security Council resolutions for the secretive country to abandon all existing weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.

Defying international warnings, the North went ahead with what it termed a launch to put a peaceful satellite into orbit “in the face of overwhelming calls by the international community for desistance from such a threatening and provocative act,” said the DFA in a statement.

“For these reasons, the Philippines deplores the launch, notwithstanding its failure,” it said.

The Philippines since Thursday imposed a “no-sailing, no flying” ban in the north where rocket debris were expected to fall.

The DFA said North Korea should “desist from acts of provocation and to end its use or testing of ballistic missile technology.”

“The DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) should abide by the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions and abandon all existing weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner,” it said. With AFP