N. Korea launches satellite, in defiance of sanctions and pressure from U.S., allies

Video: North Koreans danced in the streets of their capital Wednesday after the regime of young leader Kim Jong Un successfully fired a long-range rocket, defying international warnings

By Chico Harlan,

TOKYO — North Korea successfully launched a satellite into orbit on Wednesday, showing off an improving weapons program that Washington and its allies have struggled to curb despite heavy international sanctions.
Though the Unha-3 rocket did not carry a warhead, it relied on technology similar to that of a long-range missile, leading Washington, Seoul and Tokyo to describe the launch as the de facto test of an intercontinental ballistic missile that violated U.N. Security Council resolutions.