SEOUL-South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Thursday said a planned rocket launch by North Korea could “never be tolerated”, as her defense ministry vowed to shoot down any missile that threatened its territory.
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Nakatani said arrangements are now being made to deploy the Patriot Advanced Capability-3, or PAC-3, surface-to-air missile systems in Okinawa Prefecture, over which North Korea’s ballistic missile, if launched, may fly.
Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun also said the South’s military was ramping up its air defence readiness so it was ready to intercept any missile or debris falling in its territory.
Japan for its part has announced that “it has defenses ready to deal with all threats of this type from North Korea, and has put its Self Defense Force’s Aegis destroyers and other units to plainly shoot it down, if it threatens in anyway Japanese territory”. Find us on Facebook too!
China already appears to be dragging its feet on a response to North Korea’s purported first H-bomb test on January 6.
NHK television, citing diplomatic sources it did not identify, reported that it had been “confirmed that a mobile launch pad in North Korea’s eastern coastal area was on the move”.
“We are extremely concerned about this”, Lu Kang, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, said at a press conference on Wednesday, reports Reuters.
South Koreans watch a TV news program with a file footage about North Korea’s rocket launch plans, at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016.
The DPRK’s announcement of rocket launch plan, despite the ongoing discussions on new United Nations sanctions, reflected a fact that Pyongyang is never scared of United Nations restrictions at all, Park said.
Wu Dawei, China’s special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs, has been in North Korea since Tuesday.
The US-based North Korean analysis website 38 North said recent satellite images show recent activity at Sohae suggesting launch preparations.
Japan has pledged to destroy North Korean rockets if any enter its territorial boundaries.
“The precise date is to be seen, but the North may think it would be able to maximize the launch’s impact shortly after the February 8-9 Lunar New Year holidays”.
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It remained unclear whether North Korea’s latest announcement will nudge China closer to the tougher U.S. stance, diplomats said. This means there is considerable debate about whether it can produce nuclear bombs small enough to place on a missile, or missiles that can reliably deliver their bombs to faraway targets.
