• By   • Alastair Gale Associated Press A North Korean
anchorwoman announced the country’s successful launch on
Wednesday. The image was taken from a TV screen.   A South
Korean government official had it right when he said last week
that a tarp over North Korea’s rocket tower meant there were
limits to what could be determined about the progress towards
launch.  But that didn’t stop others speculating about the
likely launch timing based on aerial images. And pretty much
everyone was proven wrong on Wednesday, when North Korea fired
its rocket, apparently successfully.   People in Japan were
wringing their hands over the same thing.  What led everyone
down a blind alley was Pyongyang’s statement on Sunday that it
might postpone the launch due to unspecified problems, and then
its Monday announcement that it was extending the two-week
launch window through to Dec. 29.  South Korea’s state-owned
Yonhap news agency offered play-by-play updates from unnamed
officials in South Korea of progress towards launch, cu