North Korea’s Plan to Launch Rocket Earns Global Condemnation

It is disconcerting that although nearly one month has passed since North Korea conducted a nuclear test, the U.N. Security Council has not yet adopted a sanctions resolution.

Seoul’s Defense Ministry warned Thursday that it was ready to “intercept” a rocket from North Korea, echoing a similar statement from the Japanese government hours earlier – as a spokesperson also confirmed that South Korea was aware of preparations at the North’s Dongchang-ri launch site.

On Tuesday, Pyongyang notified three United Nations agencies that it plans to launch an earth observation satellite sometime between February 8 and 25.

The NHK report said the mobile missile launcher was thought to normally remain stationary in places such as an underground facility. South Korea’s presidential official Cho Tae-young warned on Tuesday of “searing consequences” for the North should it push through with the launch. In diplomatic terms, it was yet another sign of disrespect for North Korea’s chief ally.

“It will try to allow certain sanctions to pass in certain circumstances, but China continues to be North Korea’s protector on the UN Security Council and really tough sanctions against North Korea have never been able to pass because of the Chinese Security Council veto”.

The move added to tensions already heightened after the North’s nuclear test on January 6.

“Shutting down or pulling out from the Kaesong Industrial Complex completely depends on how North Korea acts”, a Blue House official said.

The degree of sanctions are thought to have been part of discussions, but some say, stopping Pyongyang from its satellite launch, what many may have been hoping for, was not Wu Dawei’s priority.

“We have to state that by intending to violate the requirements of the UN Security Council once again, the DPRK shows defiant disregard of the universally recognized norms of global law”, the Foreign Ministry official said, according to Xinhua.

The North Korean missile will not pass anywhere near Tokyo, and Japan has no intention of actually shooting down the missile warhead – an act of war.

North Korea has spent decades trying to develop operational nuclear weapons along with missiles capable of striking the mainland United States.

People watch a news report on North Korea’s planned rocket launch as file footage from North Korea’s 2012 launch of the Unha-3 rocket plays on a TV screen at a railway station in Seoul on February 3, 2016.

North Korea, an autocracy run by the same family since 1948, is estimated to have a handful of crude nuclear devices and an impressive array of short- and medium-range missiles, but it closely guards details about its nuclear and missile programs.