North Korea launches long-range missile

North Korea, the newest member of the world's most exclusive club -- nuclear armed states, ignored President Obama's warnings and launched a long-range missile:

North Korea claimed the missile was to carry a satellite into space, but it could be a missile with a warhead attached. Regardless of whether the purpose was to launch a satellite or a nuclear warhead -- it's the same technology.

Regardless of North Korea's claims that the launch succeeded in putting a communications satellite into orbit, Officials from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the U.S. Northern Command report that the North Korean rocket failed to reach orbit and fell into the Pacific Ocean:

"Stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan. The remaining stages along with the payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean," according to a statement from NORAD and the Northern Command, read by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

"No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan," the statement added. "NORAD and (the Northern Command) assesses the launch vehicle as not a threat to North America or Hawaii and took no action in response to this launch."

The missile launch did succeed in what may have mattered most -- demonstrating that North Korea had the ability to launch a multistage rocket that could travel thousands of miles.