North Korea moves up rocket launch window

Pyongyang told the U.N. International Maritime organization the launch will be held between February 7 and 14, NPR’s Elise Hu reports.

“Weather in the North Korea Dongchang-ri launch site area is expected to be good between February 7 and February 10”, said the official, forecasting the launch could take place as early as on Sunday.

South Korea has warned of shooting down debris that fall on its territory or territorial waters from a North Korean rocket, which was estimated by the Seoul military to fly over the western border island of Baengnyeong at an altitude of about 180 km.

The North insists its space programme is purely scientific in nature, but the US, South Korea and even ally China say the rocket launches are aimed at developing an inter-continental ballistic missile capable of striking the US.

On Friday, both US President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye spoke by phone with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, urging him to back punitive measures against Pyongyang.

A U.S. Navy spokesman confirmed the missile tracking ship USNS Howard O. Lorenzen arrived in Japan this week but declined to say if it was in response to the North’s planned launch.

The Unha rocket used to launch North Korea’s last satellite is believed to be based upon the Taepodong long-range ballistic missile, which has an estimated range of around 5,600 miles (9,000 km).

Commercial satellite imagery of the Sohae launch station shows the arrival of tanker trucks at the launchpad, according to an analysis published on 38 North, a website dedicated to North Korea.

Diplomats at the UN Security Council have already pledged to pursue fresh sanctions on North Korea over its recent nuclear test.

The new time frame was set amid rising expectations that a launch was likely to happen soon, with U.S. government sources on Friday saying North Korea could be ready by the U.S. Super Bowl kickoff on Sunday, which will be Monday in Korea.

North Korea has announced it will be firing a rocket into orbit next week – moving up a launch originally planned for later this month.

This comes just days after news of the North’s plans broke.

The reclusive state had originally declared that it would launch a satellite from February 8-25, despite being barred from using ballistic missile technology under United Nations resolutions.

North Korea executed a satellite launch in 2012, but it is unclear whether that satellite remains in orbit.

That would put Australia, much of Western Europe, and the US west coast in range of a North Korean warhead.