North Korea confirmed Tuesday it was planning an imminent satellite rocket launch that would amount to another major breach of United Nations resolutions following its nuclear test last month.
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North Korea has notified the U.N.’s International Maritime Organization of its plan to launch an “earth observation satellite” later this month, a move that has raised concerns in the USA and with other world powers that Pyongyang is trying to covertly advance long-range missile technology.
North Korea has announced that it intends to launch a rocket carrying an earth observation satellite at some point during a 20-day window from February 8.
Pyongyang is believed to have developed advanced long-range ballistic missile technologies through a series of test launches, including the most recent launch in 2012, in which the North succeeded in putting a satellite into orbit.
The US said any satellite launch by North Korea would be viewed by the global community as another destabilising “provocation” by that country. Many countries have condemned North Korea’s actions and are calling for newer sanctions. And even that satellite appeared to malfunction days or hours after reaching space, said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
North Korea has said that plutonium and highly enriched uranium facilities at its main Nyongbyon nuclear complex are in operation and that its scientists have improved “the levels of nuclear weapons with various missions in quality and quantity”.
“North Korea is defying the UN Security Council, it’s defying its… neighbour China, it’s defying the worldwide community”, he added.
“From North Korea’s perspective, a schism between China and the U.S.is the ideal situation”, Kim Han-kwon, a professor at South Korea’s National Diplomatic Academy, told the YTN news network, as reported by CBS.
A government source here said the likeliest date is former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s birthday on February 16. The U.N. Security Council prohibits North Korea from nuclear and ballistic missile activity.
Officials in Seoul have also agreed to resume broadcasts of pop music which will be blared out on giant speakers aimed at North Korea.
United States Secretary of State John Kerry described North Korea’s growing nuclear capability and missile technology as a, “threat the United States must take extremely seriously.” while also urging Chinese leaders in Beijing last week to put a seal on North Korea’s military ambitions.
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North Korea’s announcement comes just weeks after it claimed to have conducted its fourth nuclear test – of a hydrogen bomb – for which the Obama administration is attempting to impose stricter worldwide sanctions.
