Thousands celebrate North Korea rocket launch

[NewsCaster]

Kyodo via ReutersNorth Koreans attend a rally to celebrate the successful launch of the Unha-3 (Milky Way 3) rocket, which carried the second version of the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite, in Pyongyang on December 14, 2012.South Korean navy ships have found what appeared to be debris from the rocket launched by North Korea this week. NBCNews.com's Alex Witt reports.Reuters reports — When North Korea's Kim Jong Un commemorates a year of his rule next week, he  will be able to declare he has fulfilled the country's long-held dream of  becoming a "space powerhouse".

In a mass parade in Pyongyang on Friday,  tens of thousands of soldiers dressed in olive green and standing in serried  ranks, as well as bareheaded civilians, celebrated this week's successful rocket  launch, hailing Kim's "victory".

"Under the great leadership of Kim Jong Un,  we are carrying out a sacred task towards our last victory so as to build strong  and prosperous nation," Kim Ki Nam, a politburo member from the Workers Party of  Korea, told the applauding and cheering crowds that turned out in freezing  temperatures. Read the full story.

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