South Korean TV claims North has second missile program

GlobalPost

South Korea claims that North Korea has been developing a second long-range ballistic missile in a separate program from the one that led to Friday's failed rocket launch.

AFP says the South Korean television station YTN is reporting that the North carried out four tests earlier this year to develop an inter-continental missile code-named KN-08.

The station quotes an intelligence source whose claims could not be independently verified.

South Korean warships are searching for debris from the rocket that crashed into the Yellow Sea just minutes after take-off on Friday, Press Association reports.  South Korea, along with many other Western nations, question the North's assurances that the launch was part of a peaceful research program.

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Despite the failed launch, tens of thousands of people have gathered at a football stadium today to show their support for North Korea's ruler Kim Jong-Un and his government, AsiaOne says.

The news service describes how women in colorful hanbok gowns and men in dark suits and ties packed the stadium and shouted "Let's safeguard Kim Jong-Un with our lives!".

A day earlier, just hours after the failed launch, North Korea pressed ahead with a ceremony to unveil two statues of former leaders Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung in the capital Pyongyang says the BBC.

The unveiling, along with the rocket launch, was intended to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the country's founder Kim Il-sung.

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