Pyongyang announces February 8-25 window for launch

“We are seriously concerned about that”, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said on Wednesday when asked by the press to comment on North Korea’s plans.

North Korea has notified the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of its plan to launch a satellite between February 8 and February 25.

A rocket launch coming so soon after the nuclear test would raise concern that North Korea plans to fit nuclear warheads on its missiles, giving it the capability to launch a strike against South Korea, Japan and possibly targets as far away as the U.S. West Coast.

Citing diplomatic sources, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said Pyongyang may be also preparing for a ballistic missile test from a base on its east coast along with the rocket launch.

North Korea is already subject to numerous United Nations sanctions over previous nuclear and rocket tests, and Park said its continued provocative behaviour showed these had been ineffective. North Korea said last month it wasn’t interested in aggravating tensions and that it would suspend nuclear testing if the US stopped joint military drills with South Korea, a proposal quickly dismissed by USA officials.

Moscow’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it had summoned the North Korean ambassador and had issued an “urgent appeal to refrain from actions that could further escalate tensions in the region”.

Each new rocket launch improves North Korea’s missile technology, which is crucial for its goal of developing a nuclear-armed missile capable of hitting the USA mainland.

North Korea will launch a satellite from its Sohae Satellite Launching Station later in February, in a violation of a United Nations ban, the BBC reported today.

It has long sought to have an inter-continental missile that can carry a nuclear bomb, and the US has called the regime’s long-range rocket launches tests of ballistic missile technology banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions.

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. Japan and Russian Federation both condemned North Korea for what they see as its blatant disregard of global law.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un holds binoculars as he guides a live-firing exercise in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on July 15.

In South Korea and Japan, there are fears about falling debris, although nothing landed in their territories during the North’s most recent launches.

Last year, American military officials said they believe North Korea can make a nuclear weapon small enough to be placed on a long-range missile. But just what is happening at Nyongbyon is unclear. Such propaganda leaflets had been a common sight of late in several residential areas near the demilitarized border separating South and North Korea.