China says nuclear envoy discussed ‘current situation’ with N. Korean officials

South Korea has warned the North that it will “pay a harsh price” if it goes ahead with the launch.

“The secretary-general believes that it is important for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to refrain from using ballistic missile technology and to work for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula”, United Nations spokesman Farhan Haq said.

Leaders across the world have decried North Korea’s plans to test a long-range rocket later this month, despite Pyongyang’s insistence that it is simply trying to better the country’s space program.

Japan has said it will shoot down the missile if it crosses into its airspace and prime minister Shinzo Abe condemned called the plan a “serious provocation”.

Pyongyang’s launch announcement came on the day Wu Dawei, China’s special representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs, arrived in North Korea for a visit.

IMO spokesperson Natasha Brown has said North Korea’s notification describes the rocket’s payload as an observation satellite called Kwangmyongsong, or Lodestar.

The Chinese ministry has responded to North Korea’s actions, by noting they are deeply concerned. The North also told global agencies before that launch of its plans.

Shi Yinhong, a professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing, said the rocket launch is “likely to result in the conflict between China and the USA over sanctions growing too big for any resolution on long-term measures to emerge”.

South Korean defense officials said Thursday that the North is pushing ahead with the launch plans at its Tongchang-ri launch site on its west coast.

A fresh launch poses a dilemma for the worldwide community, which is already divided on how to punish the North for its January 6 nuclear test.

The US-based North Korean analysis website 38 North said recent satellite images show recent activity at Sohae suggesting launch preparations.

North Korea’s most important ally, chief trading partner and a key source of economic assistance, China may adopt limited unilateral steps to express its dissatisfaction, including stepped inspections on North Korean ships docking in China and reducing oil exports.

“A nuclear weapons program has three legs: developing the nuclear fuel (the hardest part), developing the warhead, and the delivery system, and there’s simply no doubt that the missile program that North Korea has been developing is its nuclear weapons delivery system”.

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