All eyes will be on North Korean satellite launch

On Tuesday, Pyongyang officially notified the United Nations that it planned to launch a weather observation satellite sometime from February 8-24 from its missile test center on North Korea’s west coast.

For its part, Pyongyang’s spokesperson said North Korea was simply exercising its “sovereign right” to pursue a space program by launching an earth satellite.

North Korea started dropping these propaganda leaflets in response to South Korea’s resumption of anti-Pyongyang broadcasts along the heavily fortified border.

President Park Geun-hye said Thursday that North Korea’s long-range missile launch should never be condoned as she called for strong sanctions to stop North Korea’s move.

Wu, who also serves as China’s special representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs and as its representative at the six-party talks, is the first high-ranking Beijing envoy to visit Pyongyang since January 6, when North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test.

North Korea fired two mid-range ballistic missiles, which appeared to be Rodong-class missiles, from the mobile launcher off its east coast into the sea toward Japan in March 2014, the report said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday (Feb 3) called it a “deeply troubling development”.

Another successful launch will likely intensify debate in the US and South Korea on how to tackle the missile threat, potentially increasing tension with China, North Korea’s only major ally. He called for the imposition of tough additional sanctions. Harsher measures would affect their bottom line, along with the economy along 1,420-kilometer (880 miles) Chinese-North Korean border.

Russia urges North not to escalate tensions Meanwhile in Moscow, Russia urged North Korea to avoid escalating tensions with an announced rocket launch, expressing “grave concern” over the plan.

Pyongyang’s defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons is forcing countries in northeast Asia to either support crippling sanctions or ultimately recognize North Korea as a nuclear state.

North Korea last launched a long-range rocket in December, 2012, sending what it described as a communications satellite into orbit.

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.

“Wu arrived in Pyongyang, and just a few hours later, North Korea’s plans to launch a rocket were released”.

“Shutting down or pulling out from the Kaesong Industrial Complex completely depends on how North Korea acts”, a Blue House official said.

“If we have a consistent demonstration of success in an intermediate range ballistic missile, this will clearly raise the threshold, I think, for Tokyo in thinking about what needs to happen in terms of extended deterrent”, said Sheila Smith, a regional analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations.