World & Nation

April 2012: North Korea prepares for rocket launch

A member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces stands near a PAC-3 Patriot missile unit deployed for North Korea's rocket launch.

A member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces stands near a PAC-3 Patriot missile unit deployed for North Korea’s rocket launch.  (Shizuo Kambayashi / Associated Press)

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The spectacle unfolding on a launch pad on the west coast of North Korea reveals a boastful and media-savvy regime more willing than ever to brush off international condemnation. Despite warnings from the United States, China and Russia, North Korea said it was fueling a three-stage rocket that could be launched soon, depending on weather conditions.

Launch control

A man looks down from a balcony at the North Korean space agency’s General Launch Command Center on the outskirts of Pyongyang.  (David Guttenfelder / Associated Press)

North Korean technicians man computer terminals at North Korea's space agency's General Launch Command Center on the outskirts of Pyongyang.

North Korean technicians man computer terminals at North Korea’s space agency’s General Launch Command Center on the outskirts of Pyongyang.  (David Guttenfelder / Associated Press)

Control room

Officials of the U.S. and other countries fear that North Korea¿s missile program actually masks an effort to develop a delivery system for a nuclear weapon.  (David Guttenfelder / Associated Press)

Satellite display

North Korean guide Kim Won Ho shows visiting journalists a model depicting a North Korean satellite over Earth, at the Three Revolutions exhibition hall in Pyongyang.  (Ng Han Guan / Associated Press)

Previous launch

North Korean guide Kim Won Ho, right, speaks to a foreign journalist near a photo depicting the 2009 satellite rocket launch.   (Ng Han Guan / Associated Press)

On watch

A North Korean soldier stands guard at the space center in Pyongyang.  (Pedro Ugarte / AFP/Getty Images)

Patriot missiles ready in Japan

U.S. Adm. Samuel Locklear talks with Japanese Gen. Shigeru Iwasaki as he inspects PAC-3 Patriot missile units deployed in preparation for North Korea’s rocket launch.  (Shizuo Kambayashi / Associated Press)

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