Seoul, Tokyo threaten to intercept N. Korean rocket debris

It urged North Korea to return to talks over its nuclear programme and other issues.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Wednesday the U.S. military was keeping a vigilant eye on North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, and was continually expanding its defenses against a possible missile attack by Pyongyang.

South Korean and United States officials said North Korea’s move would threaten regional security and violate UN Security Council resolutions that ban the country from engaging in any ballistic missile activities.

United Nations sanctions against North Korea prohibit it from carrying out any nuclear or ballistic missile tests. The North said it plans to launch a rocket from its Dongchang-ri base in the country’s northwest between February 8 and 25.

Japan’s defence minister, Gen Nakatani, told a media briefing on Wednesday he had issued an order to shoot down any “ballistic missile threat”.

“Lewis also noted a now Treasury Department-confirmed report that North Korea and Iran have been cooperating on the development of a new 80-ton rocket booster, raising the possibility of the Unha-9 rocket using the booster as its first stage”, The Korea Times reported. In diplomatic terms, it was yet another sign of disrespect for North Korea’s chief ally.

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.

Police said the damage was done when a bundle, loaded with 30,000 leaflets criticizing South Korean President Park Geun-hye and glorifying Pyongyang’s latest nuclear test, fell onto the rooftop of the house.

The South’s rhetoric about unspecified harsh consequences comes less than a month after North Korea’s defiant fourth nuclear test and as diplomats at the United Nations work on strong new sanctions against the North.

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

While its patience has been stretched to the limit by Pyongyang’s refusal to curb its nuclear ambitions, China’s overriding concern is a collapse of Kim Jong-Un’s regime and the possibility of a US-allied unified Korea on its border.

In 2012, North Korea launched a similar rocket.

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

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un apparently aims to display his achievements to domestic and global audiences before the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea meets in May for its first convention in 36 years.

South Korea told its bitter rivals they will pay a “severe price” if it continues its long-range missile testing.

“A nuclear weapons program has three legs: developing the nuclear fuel (the hardest part), developing the warhead, and the delivery system, and there’s simply no doubt that the missile program that North Korea has been developing is its nuclear weapons delivery system”.