North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative rocket launch Sunday that the U.S., Japan and other nations suspect was a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology.

Liftoff took place at 11:30 a.m. Sunday Korea time (HST: 4:30PM Saturday) from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean and U.S. governments said. The multistage rocket hurtled toward the Pacific, reaching Japanese airspace within seven minutes, but no debris appeared to hit its territory, officials in Tokyo said.

The South Koreans called it "reckless,"

the Americans "provocative," and

Japan said it strongly protested the launch.

The launch was a bold act of defiance against President Barack Obama, Japanese leader Taro Aso, Hu Jintao of China and others who pressed Pyongyang in the days leading up to liftoff to call off a launch they said would threaten peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

BBC: North Korea had "ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations", Barack Obama said in a written statement.  (And he stamped his feet....)

Newt Gingrich: I would've disabled missile

Obama: called for "a world without nuclear weapons" and said the United States has a “moral responsibility ” to lead the way, as the only nation ever to use them.

WRONG: The US saved millions of lives in Japan, Korea, and China--and of US troops--by using nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  The US has a special "moral responisbility" to maintain military superiority.  (Notice how this peacenik bs now goes all the way to the top?)

COVERAGE: AP , AFP , BBC , Reuters , Advertiser , Star-Bulletin

(No word on how close it came to Hawaii or Alaska)