North Korean rocket disintegrates after launch

North Korea has launched a satellite carrier that appears to have disintegrated in the air soon after blastoff and fallen into the ocean, South Korean and Japanese authorities say. South Korea's Defense Ministry said the 30-meter-long (100-foot-long) Unha-3 (Galaxy-3) rocket was launched at 07:39 a.m. local time on Friday (2239 GMT on Thursday) from the Tongchang-ri launch site on the Yellow Sea coast in the country's northwest, Xinhua reported.