08-04-09 NKorea missile seen in commercial image

North Korea's controversial rocket launch was caught by commercial satellite imagery,according to pictures released by a non-profit US research institute.The DigitalGlobe statellite images released by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) show a trail of smoke under the rocket and the flame from the burning propellant as it soars above North Korea."The missile's exhaust plume can be seen,and the flame from the burning propellant registers in the imagery as a solid white mark," ISIS said in a statement."The terrain below the missile in the image is only a few kilometers away from the launch pad." Pyongyang says Sunday's launch put an experimental communications satellite into orbit.Washington and its allies say the real purpose was to test a long-range missile in defiance of UN resolutions.Seoul,Japan and the US military say the North did not succeed in putting a satellite into orbit