>> translator: the earth observation satellite kwangmyonsong 3 failed to enter its orbit. >> north korean officials admit defeat in an attempt to put a satellite into space. north korean state media has reported that the government has announced that it failed to put what it called a satellite into orbit. this is the first time north korean officials have admitted such a failure.

>> the north koreans launched a rocket in 1998 and 2006 that were said to carry satellites. but leaders of many other nations believed those were actually missile tests and analysts failed to confirm the existence of any satellites. japanese government officials said the missile flew for more than a minute. they say it may have reached up to 120 kilometers into the air. and it appears to have split into about ten pieces. they fell into the yellow sea west of the korean peninsula. the government's top spokesperson condemned the attempt as a violation of u.n. security council resolutions. >> translator: even though the launch of the missile failed, it

means north korea went ahead with it despite objections by japan and other countries. we cannot help but call this a serious provocation to the security of japan and in violation of u.n. security council resolutions 1695, 1718 and 1874. this is a deplorable act, and we've launched a strong protest through diplomatic channels. >> nhk reporter is in pyongyang and he'll be speaking in japanese and we'll pride simultaneous interpretation now. >> translator: the north korea state-run media has reported on the failure of the launch that has not given any details to foreign journalists at a press center at a hotel in pyongyang. an official from the north korea's committee for spate technology is supposed to hold a news conference but the news

conference has not started yet. the north is believed to be shocked by the failure of the launch. the north has allowed the foreign journalists to cover the launch pad and control center and has been showing strong confidence in the success of the launch. at the time of the launch in 2009, the north failed to put a satellite into orbit. but has succeeded in dropping the first and second stage rockets in a target sea area. the missile launched this time was 30 meters long. the north did not make it longer than the previous one because it makes it more difficult to launch. on wednesday, kim jong-un has assumed the post of the first secretary of the korean workers party and today, he's expected to be chosen as a chairman of the national defense commission. north korea was hoping to succeed in the launch by any means to boost a festive mood and it has the prestige of the new leadership. following today's failure, the north may start considering a

nuclear test. if so, that would raise concern in the international community. the white house has issued a statement denouncing the attempted missile launch. the u.s. government says north korea's provocative action threatens regional security, violates international law and contravenes its own recent commitments. in the statement, white house spokesperson jay carney said that the u.s. remains vigilant and is fully committed to the security of its allies in the region. the north american aerospace defense command announced the launch had failed. it says the u.s. systems detected the launch of the north reason taepodong 2 missile at 7:39 a.m. local time. it says the missile was tracked on a southerly trajectory over the yellow sea. information toad -- norad said the first stage of the missile fell into the sea 165 kilometer s west of seoul and the remaining stages are believed to have failed.

it says no debris fell on land. joining us once again is dr. ak he's director of the japan bureau royal united services institute for defense and security studies in uk. so, doctor akamoto, as we've been reporting, north korea state media has announced their country's satellite failed to enter its preset orbit. what are your views on that? >> i think it's very unusual and good they can confirm their failures. but we can accurately say it is not a failure of entering orbit. it is a failure of launch. this is initial failure of the launch procedure. but, anyway, i think it's a good situation. maybe they invite many journalists from the world over there. i think they need to make a transparency a little bit for information. >> i see. so with this failure that they've actually admitted, will it affect north korea's rocket

development in any way? >> yes, this missile system is called taepodong 2 modified version. but this missill most important missile system for north korea. this is intercontinental ballistic missile which has a capability to hit mainland of united states. they are using this system as a diplomatic tool to deal with the united states. if they possess this kind of weapon system, they can stand at equal basis and power with the united states. then north korea thinks -- but it means it's a failure to do this. this is a political impact. another impact that economically. the missile is for north korea is a very important material for export. this means that the credibility of the north korean missile has been injured so that maybe they

are losing their pride for their missile technology. >> i see. so with this failure, plans are not going to be as going as they expected. what will happen next? >> i think north korea maybe will recover their losing pride to do another thing. i am wondering if the nuclear test happened again. preparatory step of nuclear test has already begun. u.s. military official has already confirmed. i think the development missile is simultaneously -- they need to development of nuclear capability simultaneously. so that -- and they need to update it. new nuclear devices, nuclear weapon system to conduct nuclear test in the future. i think we need to focus our next step on nuclear test by north korea. >> right. well, mr. akimoto, thank you

very much for joining us. now a u.s. expert on asia-pacific security says there's a serious possibility that nuclear tests could happen in the coming months. >> this failure represents the first major problem to arise in the transition from kim jong-il to kim jong-un. >> he told nhk the north koreans may go ahead with the test to recover from their failure. he says the u.s. government officials may look for an opportunity to hold a direct dialogue with their north korean counterparts. the americans want to hold any further provocations. the united nations security council will hold an emergency meeting on north korea's launch on friday at 9:00 a.m. in new york. the japanese government sent a letter to the body calling for the emergency meeting. the u.s. ambassador to the u.n., susan rice, told them it blatantly violates north korea's

obligations to the international community. russia's u.n. ambassador said the members of the body agreed that the launch goes against a security council resolution. and china's ambassador said the u.n. must do everything possible to diffuse tension rather than inflame the situation. and joining us once again now is the national graduate institute for policy studies or grips, in tokyo. now north korea has acknowledged that the launch has failed. >> right. >> how will it affect kim jong-un? any negative impacts? >> certainly it will have a negative impact on kim jong-un. in the past, north korea has, you know, tried to launch a satellite twice. in 1998 and 2009. and each time the satellite launch failed, but the north

korean authority announced that it was successful. but this time, they said it was -- it failed so i was surprised. but anyway, this is sending a message. and even to the leaders, that the future of kim jong-un's new leadership is grim. >> right. so what's north korea's next step then? >> i don't think this fail uure. they continue to play the game as planned. it was a peaceful satellite launch and we are still perfectly willing to abide by the february agreement with the u.s. in which we will freeze the nuclear test -- missile test and operation of the uranium enrichment program. while the united states knew -- decided to provide us with 240,000 tons of humanitarian

food aid. however, they would say if you keep saying it was a missile test, then put pressure on us, we would have to end -- walk away from this favorable agreement. we would have to do the same and walk away from the favorable agreement which might mean -- which would mean that north korea will have to conduct another nuclear test and start reprocessing uranium again. so they would say, what would you like to do? >> we've had this announcement from the national media. we'll be expecting more information to come out of the country? >> certainly. the message will be that -- well, the satellite launch has failed. but they might actually say the rocket launch has succeeded, although the satellite launch has failed. but, anyway, we have to say -- see. and, anyway, we -- given this,

under the new leadership of kim jong-un, we would have to work hard to make our country powerful and prosperous nation which can next time successfully launch a rocket and satellite. >> how would the americans respond? >> well, there are two options that they have. one option is to say that they did a -- it's outrageous provocation and we have to punish north korea and we have to come up with, you know, additional united nations security council resolution and put -- we have to put more sanctions. and this might be politically popular way to go, but if you -- if the united states decide to do this, north korea might actually decide to conduct another nuclear test. another option is that after things get settled, the united states decide to actually talk to the north koreans and try to

persuade north korea into the decision not to conduct another nuclear test. and so, you know, a lot of it would depend on the u.s. decision what to do. >> right. >> so in your opinion, with north korea conduct another nuclear test? >> well, we don't know. and as i said, the u.s. response to this will be important factor. but now that the rocket launch or what they call a rocket launch or missile launch has failed, there is increased domestic political need on the part of the north koreans to test nuclear weapon in order to enhance their position both domestically and internationally. so we have to wait and see. but the situation is not that good. >> right. well, thank you very much.

now on to some other stories we're following. china's economy is cooling off. ai uchida from the accident team has the details. >> china's economy grew 8.1% in the january to march period compared to a year earlier. the rate of growth has slowed for a fifth quarter in a row. the national bureau of statistics says the year on year growth rate is the lowest since the april to june quarter of 2009. that's when the economy was still reeling from the global financial crisis. the bureau says the european debt problems dampened demand for chinese goods. it also cites the rising labor costs in china and soaring oil prices as factors for the slowdown. >> translator: china faces crucial issues like a slowdown in exports and surging consumer prices.

>> observers say china will determine when to ease its monetary policy as it watches how the economy is performing. measures will include interest rate cuts. international monetary fund managing director christine lagarde has repeated a need to boost its bailout lending capacity for indebted nations. this is to prevent the debt crisis from spreading beyond the eurozone. she said on thursday, some improvement in the economic climate has been seen because eurozone members agreed to boost their rescue fund. a series of global financial meetings, including the group of 20, are scheduled in washington next week. lagarde expressed her hope that some agreements will be reached to boost the imf bailout fund. >> by the expression of support by many of our members to increase our resources, and i'm hopeful that during the spring meetings that are coming up next

week we will see development and we will make progress. >> the imf hopes to raise up to $500 billion for its rescue fund, but other nations outside the eurozone are reluctant to take actions, stating that efforts by eurozone members are not enough. google posted record earnings for the january to march quarter. the online search giant's total revenue reached over $10.6 billion on the strength of increased advertising for mobile devices. that's up 24% from a year earlier. google also posted a record net profit nearly $2.9 billion, which is up 61%. the strong performance comes as the company is locked in competition with social networking site facebook. google has a rival social network called google-plus. ceo larry page said the service

has attracted more than 170 million users already, and stressed that it's growing steadily. japan and bahrain reached an agreement on satellite technology. the focus will be on human resource development for bahrain. japan's industry minister yuko edano and visiting bahraini industry commerce minister signed a memorandum on the cooperation. it states japan will send experts to bahrain. they'll train personnel who will control satellites. demand for small satellites is expected to grow in emerging countries, but japan is struggling to sell its satellites because they are more expensive than those made in the united states or europe. japan hopes to promote its satellites to bahrain through the deal. sony has officially announced it will cut about 10,000 jobs worldwide by march next year.

the japanese electronicsmaker will post a record annual loss in fiscal 2011 because of its money losing television business. this will also be its fourth straight year of red ink. >> translator: as the top executive, i take very seriously a net annual loss of $6.4 billion estimated for last fiscal year. at the same time, i am determined to reinvent sony and revive it. >> he took up his post just this month. he said sony has to change now and must restore its electronics business mainly in televisions. the firm plans to return to a profit in the television business within two years. it says it will achieve this by developing next generation tvs through tie-ups. and that is the latest in

business for now. back to yuko. >> thanks very much. time now to check the world weather forecast with rachel ferguson. >> we're going to see what's happening across asia for the weekend. here we are in eastern asia. and a beautiful day in much of japan right now. however it is set to change. already a low pressure system heading in towards western japan bringing showers in kyushu. that's going to spread into central japan over the course of the evening. and it will be a bit of a wet day on saturday. not only that, but temperatures will come down as the system allows cooler air from the north to spill in. so a jump of about 10 degrees from 22 in tokyo today down to just 13 for the high on saturday. with that wet weather. so certainly a good day to stay indoors and catch up with any chores you have pending. sunday will be back up into the low 20s and sunshine once again. something to look forward to. heavy showers move away out of southeastern china here.

high pressure moves in. however, still a few lingering showers. and we really don't want any more rain here. it has been really coming down. and any additional rainfall is going to be less than welcome. let's head now into north america. we've got quite a lot going on out to the west and central locations as well. out west, a return to winter. we have some very significant snowfall through the sierra nevada. another 70 centimeters of fresh snowfall. and, in fact, that snow will be quite widespread. central locations, it's going to be severe thunderstorms from texas right up into the dakotas, into minnesota as well. particularly severe across oklahoma and in towards iowa and missouri. out east, a bit of a different story. we've got soaring temperatures here into the weekend. friday's not too shabby either. 18 degrees in new york city and d.c. also coming in 18. new york city, by monday you get up to 27 if you can believe that. so it is not just going to be warm, but it will be hot out in the east. having said that, out toward the

west, a different story. 18 degrees in denver. you've enjoyed well above average temperatures for quite some time now. it is going to change. by sunday your high will just be 4 degrees, and it will be accompanied by snow. so time to get out the winter gear once again. as we head into europe, very unsettled especially around the periphery here. we've got snow and some rain showers also for scandinavia down towards the south. more energy coming in here. more wet weather for the iberian peninsula. heavy precipitation here. it's been such a dry winter. now all the rain is coming down at once. some of it is actually going to be snow towards the north as well. and then down across the central mediterranean, a very well developed low pressure system here is bringing lots of trouble. red warnings for gusts and thunderstorms at the moment. that's going to be spreading across italy and through into the western balkans. out east, a little bit more settled. and temperatures are starting to warm up as well. 16 in kiev. 15 in warsaw. up towards the north and the

northeast, it's going to be a bit cooler. single digits from moscow as well as in stockholm. elsewhere, the mid teens. athens, 21 degrees. i'll leave you now with your extended forecast.

and let me give you our top stories once again. north korean state media has reported that the government has announced that it failed to put forward what it called a satellite into orbit. this is the first time north korean officials have admitted such a failure.

>> the north koreans launched rockets in 1998 and 2006 that were said to carry satellites. but leaders of many other nations believe those were actually missile tests. and annual aifts failed to confirm the existence of any satellites. japanese government officials said the missile flew for more than a minute and they say it may have reached up to 120 kilometers into the air. it appears to have split into about ten pieces and they fell into the yellow sea west of the korean peninsula. and the government's top spokesperson condemned the attempt as a violation of u.n. security council resolutions. >> translator: even though the launch of the missile failed, it means north korea went ahead with it despite objections by japan and other countries. we cannot help but call this a serious provocation to the security of japan and in violation of u.n. security council resolutions 1695, 1718 and 1874. this is a deplorable act, and

we've lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels. >> and a u.s. expert on asia-pacific security says there is a serious possibility that the north koreans will also carry out a nuclear test in the coming months. >> this failure represents the first major problem to arise in the transition from kim jong-il to kim jong-un. >> cronin told nhk the north koreans may go ahead with the test to recover from that failure. he says u.s. government officials may look for an opportunity to hold direct talks with their north korean counterparts. the americans want to avoid any further provocations. and one more news for you. china's economy grew 8.1% in the january to march period compared to a year earlier. the rate of growth has slowed for a fifth quarter in a row. the national bureau of

statistics says the year on year growth rate is the lowest since the april to june quarter of 2009. that's when the economy was still reeling from the global financial crisis. the bureau says the european debt problems dampened demand for chinese goods. also cites the rising labor costs in china and soaring oil prices as factors for the slowdown. >> translator: china faces crucial issues like a slowdown in exports and surging consumer prices. >> observers say china will determine when to ease its monetary policy as it watches how the economy is performing. measures will include interest rate cuts. and that's all for now on this edition of "newsline." i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. thank you very much for joining us. do stay tuned.