US in N Korea's rocket range: Seoul

North Korea's recent rocket launch amounted to the test of a ballistic missile capable of carrying a half-tonne payload as far as the US west coast, the South Korean defence ministry said yesterday.
North Korea launched its three-stage Unha-3 rocket on December 12, insisting it was a purely scientific mission aimed at putting a polar-orbiting satellite in space.
Yesterday's estimate was based on analysis of an oxidiser container -- recovered from the rocket's first-stage splashdown site -- which stored red fuming nitric acid to fuel the first-stage propellant.
The estimated range of 10,000 kilometres covers the whole of Asia, eastern Europe and western Africa as well as Alaska and a large part of the US west coast including San Francisco.