Japan’s public broadcaster NHK says the Japanese military will deploy a missile interceptor unit to Okinawa by February eighth in response to North Korea’s plan to launch a ballistic missile. If such a weapon, or another improved long-range missile variant, ended up in Iranian hands as well, North Korea would be capable of hitting the U.S. West Coast with an ICBM, while Iran would be able to hit the East Coast.
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United Nations sanctions against North Korea prohibit it from carrying out any nuclear or ballistic missile tests.
China, North Korea’s diplomatic backer and economic lifeline, has expressed displeasure over the North’s nuclear and missile programs, but resisted calls for tougher new sanctions against North Korea following the latest nuclear test.
However, Pyongyang has said it has a sovereign right to pursue a space programme by launching rockets.
IMO spokesperson Natasha Brown has said North Korea’s notification describes the rocket’s payload as an observation satellite called Kwangmyongsong, or Lodestar.
Virtually all other inter-Korean ties and assistance programs were severed in 2010 after South Korea accused the North of sinking a navy warship and killing 46 sailors.
South Korea has warned Pyongyang would pay a “severe price” if it went ahead with the move, while China has also raised concerns and called on the regime to exercise restraint.
“Sustaining rotational USA special operations forces in Korea strengthens the Alliance by ensuring a high level of ready, flexible and agile combined special operation forces”, USFK said in a statement.
One other disturbing detail comes from the Associated Press, which notes that predicting launches by the rogue communist nation has become more hard due to “the increasingly sophisticated concealing measures North Korea has been developing over the past several years”.
While intensifying monitoring activities in partnership with the U.S., Seoul said it has completed the deployment of assets to identify and track a missile when it actually takes off, such as the Patriot Advanced Capability-2 interception system.
North Korea has been increasingly isolated in this particular issue.
A model of the Unha 3 space launch vehicle is displayed at the Sci-Tech Complex in Pyongyang, North Korea Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said later that day that Wu met with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong, Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan and his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho, chief negotiator to the stalled six-party talks.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea and Japan vowed to shoot down any debris that falls on their territories from a long-range rocket that North Korea plans to fire this month, with Seoul saying Thursday that it has detected launch preparations by Pyongyang.
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South Korean and US officials said a launch would threaten regional security and violate U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the North from engaging in any nuclear and ballistic activities.
