Russian Federation urges North Korea to avoid escalating tensions with rocket launch

Russian Federation further called on North Korea to resume dialog over its nuclear program and other issues.

South Korea won’t hesitate to shoot down a North Korean rocket or its debris if necessary, the Defense Ministry said Thursday, amid clear signs that the secretive neighbor’s rocket launch is imminent.

North Korea has notified three United Nations agencies that it plans to launch an earth observation satellite as early as Monday (Feb 8), just weeks after carrying out its fourth nuclear test.

Local media have reported that airlines are being told to redirect their flights onto alternative routes out of concern that the ballistic missile could interfere with operations.

But now that North Korea has announced its launch plans and revealed the planned course, the decision was made to state how Japan would respond.

People watch a news report on North Korea’s planned rocket launch as file footage from North Korea’s 2012 launch of the Unha-3 rocket plays on a TV screen at a railway station in Seoul on February 3, 2016.

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. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was quite right to demand that North Korea refrain from going through with the launch, saying, “This would constitute a violation of these resolutions and represent a serious provocation to Japan’s security”.

The IMO reports that Pyongyang’s notification is for a multi-stage rocket launch between 7am and noontime local time, at a yet undetermined date between February 8 and 25.

However, it could not be certain that a launch vehicle was present.

The announcement angered South Korea and Japan, with both of them threatening to destroy any projectile or debris that falls on their territories.

“For this reason, starting with the last launch after Japan threatened to shoot down its missiles, North Korea has used a trajectory that did not go over Japan”.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un apparently aims to display his achievements to domestic and worldwide audiences before the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea meets in May for its first convention in 36 years. “Given Wu Dawei’s status it wouldn’t have been easy for him to execute any pressure on North Korea”.

Such launches have been viewed by the worldwide community as disguised ballistic missile tests and North Korea is banned from conducting them under United Nations resolutions.

North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2005 and carried out several nuclear weapon tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

During his recent visit to China, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Beijing to cooperate in imposing sanctions, as it “has a particular ability because of its special role and its connections to North Korea”.