North Korea fired a three-stage rocket Friday over the Yellow Sea. North Korean officials called the launch a peaceful bid to send an observation satellite into space.
Condemnation was swift by the U.S. and other countries. Washington immediately halted a plan brokered in February to provide North Korea with much-needed food aid in exchange for a suspension of its nuclear and missile programs.
In a statement released late Tuesday through state media, a spokesman for North Korea's Foreign Ministry warned that North Korea will take countermeasures following the breakdown of the deal.
Meanwhile, intelligence analysts say that based on data gathered from the most recent failure, North Korea seems not to have advanced much since an attempted rocket launch three years ago.
The analysts say the country is still far from being a long-range missile threat to the U.S. They say the supposedly new missile North Korea showed off over the weekend does not appear to be a major step forward. In fact, some analysts were more interested in the truck that carried it, which appeared capable of transporting larger missiles.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
