North Korea may be preparing separate missile launch

China’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called for all sides to show restraint over North Korea’s announcement that it plans to launch a rocket in defiance of United Nations sanctions.

South Korea has declared a no-fly zone off the south-west of the country out of concern that North Korea’s planned missile launch could damage or even bring down a commercial airliner.

A multiple rocket launcher during an exercise in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on July 15.

The militaries of both Japan and South Korea – along with the United States – believe the objective of the launch is to test ballistic missile capabilities, and not as the North Koreans say to launch an “earth observation” satellite. China is “seriously concerned” about the launch, spokesperson Lu Kang said on Wednesday. The launch is widely seen as a test for a ballistic missile.

U.S. officials say the satellite could carry deadly long-range missiles into space.

China, which dispatched a top official to North Korea this week, echoed the global concerns while Japan has vowed to shoot down any missile that threatened its territory.

South Korea, for example, dismissed the satellite story out of hand, bluntly warning the North that a long-range missile test would be “a severe threat against peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula, this region, and the world”, and demanding they immediately cancel the launch.

Some analysts now claim that the renovations on North Korea’s Sohae Satellite Launching Station indicate preparations for a rocket more powerful than any that the country has tested so far.

Meanwhile, the government officials of North Korea have yet to comment about the details of their plan.

“Forcibly carrying out a launch would be in clear defiance of UN Security Council resolutions” and “a grave act of provocation toward Japan’s security”, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said during a parliament committee session.

United Nations sanctions were tightened after North Korea successfully placed a satellite in orbit on a three-stage Unha-3 rocket in December 2012.

John Kirby, the State Department spokesman, also said in an interview: “This latest announcement further underscores the need for the worldwide community to send the North a swift, firm message that its disregard – that their disregard for U.N. Security Council obligations will not be tolerated”.

The visit marks Wu’s first trip to Pyongyang in almost two years, and the envoy had met with Ri Su Yong, North Korea’s foreign minister, Kim Gye Kwan, first vice foreign minister, and Ri Yong Ho, North Korea’s chief representative to the six-party talks.