The International Maritime Organization (IMO) says it was notified of Pyongyang’s plans to launch a satellite and a spokeswoman for the agency told Reuters by email.
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It said the information provided by North Korea, whose official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, was incomplete, and that it was seeking more details.
Satellites, however, are launched with long-range rockets, and critics of the country’s nuclear weapons program allege that the satellites are an excuse to test long-ranged missiles, going against the UN’s sanctions on North Korea.
The United States has led calls for additional measures by the U.N. Security Council in response to last month’s claimed nuclear test, the North’s fourth since 2006.
Cho said that Seoul sternly warns a harsh price, which will come from the worldwide society, against Pyongyang.
China, under US pressure to use its influence to rein in the isolated North, said North Korea’s right to space exploration was restricted under United Nations resolutions.
North Korea has said that plutonium and highly enriched uranium facilities at its main Nyongbyon nuclear complex are in operation.
The government has already ordered the SDF to prepare for the shooting down of North Korean ballistic missiles in the event that any are launched.
The U.S. State Department said North Korea’s announcement strengthened the case for adoption of stronger sanctions by the United Nations.
Jeffrey Lewis, director of the James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies in the U.S., wrote on the Arms Control Wonk blog that North Korea’s state media have made reference in recent months to the Unha-9.
China is extremely concerned by reports that North Korea plans to launch a satellite, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
North Korea’s last long-range rocket launch, in December 2012, was seen as having successfully put the country’s first communications satellite into orbit after several failed attempts.
“No one is seriously contemplating force to destroy the missile on the ground before the launch or something like that because the cascading effects and the consequences of that would be costly for everyone”, said Daniel Pinkston, a lecturer in global relations with Troy University in Seoul.
Last month, North Korea claimed it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb although doubt was cast on this by the US and South Korean officials.
While its patience has been stretched to the limit by Pyongyang’s refusal to curb its nuclear ambitions, China’s overriding concern is a collapse of Kim Jong-Un’s regime and the possibility of a US-allied unified Korea on its border. The country insists that the satellite will have a purely scientific function.
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Anticipation is high that Beijing will do just that during its unexpected visit to the North. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency reported that China’s Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs Wu Dawei arrived in the North Korean capital, Tuesday afternoon.
