North Korea said today it has informed international agencies that it plans to launch a satellite, which the US and South Korean governments believe will really be a test of its longest-range missile.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Washington on Wednesday that "a range of options" could be pursued against North Korea if it tests a long-range ballistic missile, including seeking action in the U.N. Security Council.
The United States could seek additional U.N. sanctions, or a tightening of existing measures. It could also suspend aid promised to the North in a separate nuclear disarmament deal or impose unilateral punishments, analysts have said.
North Korea said it has acceded to an international treaty on space exploration "as part of its preparations for launching Kwangmyongsong-2, an experimental communications satellite," its KCNA news agency reported.
Pyongyang did not give a date for the launch. It said it had also told agencies including the International Civil Aviation Organisation of its plans so it can then inform aircraft.
South Korean officials said the North has been assembling the Taepodong-2 at a missile base on its east coast. The missile is still indoors but once set vertically and moved to a launch pad, it can be fired off in about 7 to 10 days, experts have said.
There has been speculation in South Korean media that a launch could come around April 15, the birthday of North Korea's state founder Kim Il-sung.
Analysts said there are a few technical differences between a satellite launch and a test of its longest-range ballistic missile because but both still use the same rocket, which is called the Taepodong-2 outside of the secretive North.
"The missile launch requires additional technology because the missile needs to be able to re-enter the atmosphere," said a defence analyst in Seoul who asked not to be named because of the sensitive subject matter.
The Taepodong-2 is designed to carry a weapon as far as Alaska but has never successfully flown. North Korea shocked the region when it fired a Taepodong-1 over Japan in 1998, saying it had launched a satellite.
A ballistic missile launch would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution that forbids Pyongyang from further nuclear tests or ballistic missile launches.
Reuters