South Korea warns North Korea not to launch satellite

“North Korea (DPRK)’s announcement of long-range missile launch plan, after conducing nuclear test, is an act to threaten peace of the Korean peninsula and the world that will never be tolerated”, Park said in a statement read by Kim Sung-Woo, senior presidential press secretary.

The announcement on Tuesday was greeted by a global chorus of anger and concern, with sharp criticism from South Korea, Japan and the United States, already angry over the North’s fourth nuclear test early last month.

“The military is ramping up its air defence readiness so it can intercept a missile or any debris that lands in our territory or waters”, ministry spokesman Moon ang-Gyun told reporters. Although Beijing has supported those measures, it points to North Korea’s continuing nuclear tests and missile launches as proof of their ineffectiveness. Find us on Facebook too!

Rockets launched during an exercise in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on July 15. In Washington on Tuesday, top diplomat for East Asia Daniel 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.

The report claimed that “a mobile launch pad in North Korea’s eastern coastal area was on the move”.

The Chinese ministry has responded to North Korea’s actions, by noting they are deeply concerned.

NHK did not say whether it was a long- or short-range missile.

“Following a nuclear test, it clearly violates U.N. Security Council resolutions and is a grave provocation to our country’s security”.

South Korea’s president on Thursday called for strong United Nations sanctions that will make North Korea realize it can not survive if it does not abandon its weapons programs.

Ban yesterday met with the director of the International Maritime Organisation in London to discuss the planned rocket launch after it received a notice from North Korea.

Japan has issued a similar “destroy” order for any North Korean projectile that infringes on its territory.

The U.S., for its part, has recently dispatched its Special Operations Forces here for joint training with South Korea’s Special Warfare Command, the U.S. Forces Korea said Wednesday. 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.