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Taepodong-2 said to have flown seven minutes
 | I've been said to have lost fifty pounds. |
SEOUL - North Koreas long-range Taepodong-2 missile spent seven minutes in the air, a South Korean military official said Thursday, after repeated US statements that it failed after just 42 seconds. Lee Sung-Kyu, a top intelligence officer at South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the missile had a smooth flight of 42 seconds but spent a total of seven minutes in the air over the Sea of Japan (East Sea).
The Taepodong-2 crashed due to some trouble after travelling for seven minutes including a 42-second normal flight, he testified at a National Assembly committee. Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified military intelligence official as saying the long-range missile went down after flying for 490 kilometers.
| 42 seconds flying up and 6 minutes, 18 seconds tumbling down. |
The early landing of the Taepodong-2 -- capable of flying over 6,700 kilometers (4,150 miles) to bring Alaska and Hawaii into range -- sparked questions over whether the flight was a technical failure or was aborted.
| Early landing? The AFP boys are better than I thought. |
North Korea has hailed the launch of seven missiles Wednesday as successful, rebuffing allegations that the long-range missile launch was a failure.
| "It tumbled so beautifully just as our Dear Leader predicted!" |
US officials had scoffed sneered laughed at mocked the test, with White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley saying a missile that fails after 40 seconds is not a threat to the territory of the United States.
Posted by: Steve White 2006-07-07 |
