North Korea preparing to detonate NUCLEAR WEAPON

The country defied international warnings by launching the rocket – which experts see as a covert test for a missile strike on the US – on Sunday morning.

Pyongyang claimed the launch had successfully blasted a satellite into orbit – and vowed to continue launching satellites in future.

The paranoid Communist regime claimed to have successfully tested an H-bomb last month – and appears to be speeding up preparations for a nuke strike on the US.

In a statement read on the state-run channel North Korean TV an announcer said this morning's launch had been ordered by Mr Kim.

A South Korean official said the launch from the North's west coast was made between 9.30 and 9.35 am local time.

The US and regional allies South Korea and Japan tracked the rocket – but stopped short of blasting it out of the sky as they had threatened to do.

British Foreign Secretary condemned the launch as a "threat to regional and international security" and vowed harsh punishment from the UN.

He said: "In conducting this provocation, North Korea has clearly demonstrated that it is intent on prioritising the development of its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes over improving the well-being of its own people." 

 The satellite is thought to have weighed 200kg – twice as heavy as a satellite launched in 2012.

South Korea said a satellite weighing 200kg "is worthless as a satellite" as a proper satellite usually weighs at least 800 to 1,500kg.

Lawmakers there suggested this was further proof the launch was nothing more than a ballistic missile test.

South Korea said its volatile neighbour got key parts for a long-range missile from Russia.

The move has drawn international condemnation with US security adviser Susan Rice issuing a stark warning that "reckless actions must have serious consequences".

Japan and South Korea immediately convened an emergency national security council meeting after the launch.

US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the launch as "a flagrant violation of UN Security Council Resolutions".

And South Korean President Park Geun-hye called for strong sanctions as he branded the move "an unforgivable act of provocation".

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters: "We absolutely cannot allow this. We will take action to totally protect the safety and well-being of our people."

North Korea has carried out four nuclear tests since 2006 – most recently the supposed hydrogen bomb test last month.

South Korea and the US has cast doubts on whether the January 6 test was really an H-bomb – instead suggesting it was more likely a standard atomic bomb or hybrid "boosted fission" bomb.

The rocket and nuclear tests are seen as crucial steps toward the country's ultimate goal of a nuclear armed long-range missile arsenal.

North Korea's scientists are trying to create a warhead small enough to fit on a missile and develop a missile capable of reaching the west coast of the US.

Leader Kim Jong-un has overseen two of the four nuclear tests and three long-range rocket tests since taking over after the death of his father Kim Jong Il in late 2011.

North Korea says its weapons programs are necessary to defend itself against what it calls decades of US hostility.

North Korea says its rocket launches are satellite missions – but the US, South Korea and others say they are a covert test of ballistic missile technology.

The UN Security Council has attempted to prohibit North Korea from nuclear and ballistic missile activity.

In 2013 North Korea also did a nuclear test and unnerved the international community by orchestrating an escalating campaign of military might including threats to fire nuclear missiles at the US and Seoul.

The Korean border is the world's most heavily armed and the rivals' navies occasionally trade gunfire near a disputed boundary in the Yellow Sea.

North Korea has spent decades trying to develop operational nuclear weapons.

(dailystar.co.uk)