N.Korea’s Plan for Rocket Launch Stirs Regional Concern

N.Korea's Plan for Rocket Launch Stirs Regional Concern

North Korea's announcement on Friday that it would launch a long-range rocket carrying a "working" satellite to mark the centenary of founder Kim Il-sung's birth next month, stirred and sparked condemnation from the United States and other countries, saying that the action would be in breach of a U.N. resolution.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the announcement was highly alarming and called upon Pyongyang to be reminded of its obligations including U.N. Security Council resolutions banning ballistic missile launches.

"Such a missile launch would pose a threat to regional security and would also be inconsistent with North Korea's recent undertaking to refrain from long-range missile launches," she said in a statement.

The North, which recently agreed it would suspend long-range missile testing as part of talks with the United States, promised that next month's launch would not impact neighboring countries.

Japan and South Korea, which is still technically at war with the North, said the ballistic launch will threaten regional security.

Any launch by North Korea, whether for a satellite or not, that uses ballistic missile technology would eventually violate Security Council resolutions, the Japanese government said.

"We urge North Korea to exercise restraint and refrain from the launch," said the top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura.

The launch is allegedly scheduled to take place between April 12 - 16, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Posted by James Fried on Sunday March 18 2012, 12:30 PM EST. Ref: Google. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0