Russia: North Korean Rocket Launch Defies International Law

North Korea had told the United Nations agency International Maritime Organization earlier this week that it plans to launch a satellite between 8 and 25 February.

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”.

South Korea and Japan on Wednesday echoed U.S. warnings that a harsh price would be exacted from North Korea if it went ahead with a planned rocket launch just weeks after conducting its fourth nuclear test.

Moon, the South Korean military spokesman, said that South Korea would fire missiles to intercept the North Korean rocket or its fragments if they threaten to fall on its territories.

ReutersNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) provides field guidance at the newly built National Space Development General Satellite Control and Command Centre in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang May 3, 2015.

China’s chief nuclear envoy Wu Dawei discussed the “current situation on the Korean Peninsula” with senior North Korean officials during his visit to Pyongyang, China’s foreign ministry said Thursday, without specifying details about the outcome of the trip.

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

Many suspect that the launch is a ballistic missile test disguised as a satellite attempt, prompting vocal condemnation from the governments of Japan, South Korea, the United States, and others.

The country’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. This indicates China has not exerted enough pressure on North Korea.

President Park Geun-hye says the global community must make North Korea realize that it can not survive without abandoning its nuclear ambitions.

North Korea launched a rocket in 2012, claiming it had sent a satellite into space. Both South Korea and the US have made similar threats, but these threats have often led to giveaways to North Korea, and paint the U.S.as a paper tiger.

The United States and its allies have been pressuring China to support strong U.N. sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear test last month. After expressing regret over the collapse of the Six Party Talks – China’s preferred method for resolving the Korean nuclear issue, Lu effectively blamed the United States for North Korea’s recent nuclear tests.

Last month, North Korea claimed it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb although doubt was cast on this by the US and South Korean officials. If such a weapon, or another improved long-range missile variant, ended up in Iranian hands as well, North Korea would be capable of hitting the U.S. West Coast with an ICBM, while Iran would be able to hit the East Coast.