Park: N. Korea’s missile launch should never be condoned

Japan SDF soldiers setting up PAC-3 missile launcher.

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

Anyone living in Japan might be forgiven in believing that the country was going on a war footing. “It needs a lot more, but it has made a large effort in that direction”.

“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”, Moon added. Okinawa’s Nansei island chain falls under its trajectory.

Based on the notification, the missile will likely be launched in a southerly direction, and fall into the Pacific Ocean off the Philippines.

That wasn’t always the case.

Citing diplomatic sources it did not identify, NHK reported that it has been “confirmed that a mobile launch pad in North Korea’s eastern coastal area was on the move”.

Japanese Defense Forces are equipped with substantial missile defense technology; they are in possession of Aegis ship-based radar technology able to fire SM-3 interceptor missiles into space.

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. Our ability to measure the effects of their nuclear bomb tests has been reduced as well, to the point that there is still some question about precisely what they detonated in their latest bomb test.

The Taepodong-2 rocket used in the most recent tests has a range of more than 6,000 kilometers (3,728 miles).

The announcement again places China under pressure from the US and others to use its influence with Pyongyang to rein in its communist neighbor, despite Beijing’s protestations that such influence is overestimated.

In defiance of repeated warnings from the United States and its allies, Kim Jong Un’s government has informed the United Nations (UN) agency responsible for navigation safety that it plans to launch a long-range rocket later this month.

“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 worldwide law”, the Foreign Ministry official said, according to Xinhua.

South Korea warned the North it would pay a “severe price” if it goes ahead with the launch.

While Washington has been pushing its ally to take part in the program, Seoul has resisted for fear of irritating China.

Ban held talks on the planned rocket launch in London at the International Maritime Organisation, which received a notice from North Korea.