South Korea warns North Korea not to launch satellite

[webfact]

South Korea warns North Korea not to launch satellite
By HYUNG-JIN KIM

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea warned on Wednesday of "searing" consequences if North Korea doesn't abandon plans to launch a long-range rocket that critics call a banned test of ballistic missile technology.

The South's rhetoric about unspecified harsh consequences comes less than a month after the North's defiant fourth nuclear test and as diplomats at the U.N. work on strong new sanctions against Pyongyang.

North Korea on Tuesday informed international organizations of its plans to launch an Earth observation satellite on a rocket between Feb. 8 and 25, and if North Korea's past patterns are any clue, angry warnings by its neighbors and Washington probably won't dissuade a coming launch.

The launch declaration, which is meant to warn civilians, shipping and aircraft in the area about the rocket and falling debris, follows North Korea's disputed claim on Jan. 6 to have tested a hydrogen bomb, the country's fourth nuclear test. A launch would be seen as a snub by North Korea of its only major ally, China, whose representative for Korean affairs landed in Pyongyang for talks on Tuesday.

South Korean and U.S. officials said the launch would threaten regional security and violate U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the country from engaging in any ballistic activities.

"We warn that if North Korea proceeds with a long-range missile launch, the international society will ensure that the North pays searing consequences for it as the launch would constitute a grave threat to the Korean Peninsula, the region and the world," senior South Korean presidential official Cho Tae-yong said in televised remarks.

In Washington, Daniel Russel, the top diplomat for East Asia, said the U.S. was tracking reports of the North's planned launch. He said a launch that uses ballistic missile technology would be another violation of a U.N. ban and strengthens the argument for the international community to impose "real consequences" on North Korea for destabilizing behavior. He called for the imposition of tough additional sanctions.

Russel said a launch "would be an unmistakable slap in face to those who argue that you just need to show patience and dialogue with the North Koreans but not sanctions," in an apparent reference to China.

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

North Korea's last long-range rocket launch, in December 2012, was seen as having successfully put the country's first satellite into orbit after a string of failures. The North also told international agencies before that launch of its plans. Each new rocket launch improves North Korea's missile technology, which is crucial for its goal of developing a nuclear-armed missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said North Korea informed the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Telecommunication Union of its launch plans.

"Right now, we're carefully monitoring developments and are in close touch with the interested parties and the international organizations," Haq said at U.N. headquarters in New York.

The International Telecommunication Union said North Korea informed its Geneva office of its intention to launch a Kwangmyongsong (Bright Star) -type Earth observation satellite with a four-year operational life. But the ITU's U.N. representative, Gary Fowlie, said not enough technical information had been supplied to register the planned launch in its Master International Frequency Register.

A South Korean official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of office rules, said Seoul estimated that the first stage of the rocket would fall off the west coast of South Korea, more debris would land near the South's Jeju Island, and the second stage would land off the Philippines' east coast.

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. This means there is considerable debate about whether it can produce nuclear bombs small enough to place on a missile, or missiles that can reliably deliver their bombs to faraway targets.

The North's recent nuclear test has led to another push in the U.N. to tighten sanctions, something that followed North Korea's 2012 rocket launch and its 2013 third nuclear test. The North followed that test with an escalating campaign of bombast that included threats to fire nuclear missiles at the United States and South Korea.

North Korea has said that plutonium and highly enriched uranium facilities at its main Nyongbyon nuclear complex are in operation. But just what is happening at Nyongbyon is unclear. North Korea booted out international inspectors in 2009, and independent assessments by outside experts since then have been spotty.
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Associated Press writers Foster Klug in Seoul, South Korea, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-02-03

[Doc46]

Why is it that the US and the UN have to Rule the world? If it is Ok for the US and any other country to play with Nukes ,,Than it is Ok for North Korea to play with them to. Equal Rights isn't it?,,,Isn't it more important to stop the world being taking over by the Space Invaders called asylum seeker/immigrants/refugees? C'mom People get your shit together and Work together.

[lungbing]

If I were the North Korean leader I would say "Certainly I will stop my test missile launches. As soon as you and America stop having war games off my coast".

[bark]

Why is it that the US and the UN have to Rule the world? If it is Ok for the US and any other country to play with Nukes ,,Than it is Ok for North Korea to play with them to. Equal Rights isn't it?,,,Isn't it more important to stop the world being taking over by the Space Invaders called asylum seeker/immigrants/refugees? C'mom People get your shit together and Work together.

Agreed, Better to let the North fire off a few rockets. Hope that one of them land on South Korea. Then let the fun begin.

Too many people in the world now. Need to weed out 100 million.

[GOLDBUGGY]

Can't even feed your own people but investing all the money in the Army, Weapons, and in Nuclear Technology and Rockets. Sure! We can trust a guy like that!

People who sanction this need to get real! The World sat back and let Hitler play his hand out to, and look what happened their. How many more lives were lost by not stopping him at the beginning? Of all the World Leaders, only Churchill was smart enough to see through this ruse. The USA wanted to stay out of it, and called it Europe's War. Until it landed at their back door with the bombing of Peal Harbor and the loss of about 4,000 American Lives.

Does the world really need another crazy dictator who we should all ignore? But this time with a Nuclear Weapons in his hands and the ability to send them anywhere, including your Home Town this time? All I know is that it is easier to stop a small camp fire then it is to stop a burning forest.

[connda]

Or what? I'm not a fan of NK, but nations have a right to support their telecommunication infrastructure with satellites. Considering there is about 1/2 million pieces of junk floating around in space, what's one NK satellite? The rocket will probably end up in the Pacific anyway, satellite and all.

Edited February 3, 2016 by connda

[connda]

Why is it that the US and the UN have to Rule the world? If it is Ok for the US and any other country to play with Nukes ,,Than it is Ok for North Korea to play with them to. Equal Rights isn't it?,,,Isn't it more important to stop the world being taking over by the Space Invaders called asylum seeker/immigrants/refugees? C'mom People get your shit together and Work together.

Agreed, Better to let the North fire off a few rockets. Hope that one of them land on South Korea. Then let the fun begin.

Too many people in the world now. Need to weed out 100 million.

Hummm, according to Jerry Brown I thought they needed to weed out about 6 billion and get the number of serfs down to 500 million.