US: N. Korean rocket launch highly provocative act

WASHINGTON: The United States yesterday condemned North Korea’s plan to carry out its second rocket launch of 2012 as a “highly provocative act” that would threaten peace and violate UN sanctions.
“A North Korean ‘satellite’ launch would be a highly provocative act that threatens peace and security in the region,” said US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland in a written statement.
“Any North Korean launch using ballistic missile technology is in direct violation of UN Security Council Resolutions,” she added.
North Korea had announced yesterday an imminent rocket launch in a move sure to draw stern US and UN condemnation and rack up tensions with South Korea.
It will be the North’s second long-range rocket launch this year following a much-hyped but failed attempt in April
In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the Korean Committee for Space Technology said the new bid would be carried out between Dec.10 and 22.
The South Korean foreign ministry condemned the planned launch as a “deeply provocative act” that defied UN resolutions and would have significant repercussions for the already isolated state.
As in April, the North said it would be a purely “peaceful, scientific” mission aimed at placing a polar-orbiting earth observation satellite into orbit.
The US and its allies insist the launches are disguised tests for an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
As such they would contravene UN resolutions triggered by Pyongyang’s two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
They say the North’s Unha-3 rocket is actually a three-stage variant of the Taepodong-2 ICBM that Pyongyang has been developing for years but has never tested successfully.
Saturday’s announcement ended weeks of intense speculation, based on satellite image analysis, that the North was preparing a fresh launch from its Sohae satellite launch station. South Korea had repeatedly warned in recent months that the North would seek to destabilize the situation on the Korean peninsula ahead of the South’s presidential election on Dec. 19.
“We sternly warn if the North goes ahead with the launch, it will face strong countermeasures from the international community,” Saturday’s foreign ministry statement said.
On Thursday the UN Security Council had warned Pyongyang that going ahead with another launch would be “extremely inadvisable”.
The April launch put a halt to the latest international effort to engage North Korea, with the United States calling off plans to deliver badly needed food assistance.
The KCNA statement said the December mission would “fully comply” with relevant international regulations governing satellite launches.
“A safe flight path has been chosen so that parts of the carrier rocket that might fall during the launch process would not affect neighboring countries,” it said.

The announcement came just days after South Korea had been scheduled to carry out its own satellite launch in a bid to join the global space club.
The attempt was postponed at the last minute due to a technical problem and a new mission date has yet to be finalized.