[Courtesy of Xinhua News]
South Korea was on guard Thursday against North Korea's possible long-range missile launch, warning it would be condemned as a "grave provocation" endangering regional and global peace and stability.
The warning from South Korea's defense ministry came after Japan's Kyodo News agency, citing satellite imagery analyses, reported that North Korea may be preparing for a long-range missile test in as early as a week at its Sohae launch site where the nuclear-armed country claimed to have launched satellites into space.
North Korea can test a long-range missile anytime abruptly, but it has yet to declare a no-sail zone, a notification necessary before it conducts a long-range missile launch, ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told a press briefing.
"Our military is prepared for various types of provocation by North Korea. Especially we are keeping a close eye on any signs of its long-range missile launch," he said.
If North Korea pushes ahead with a missile launch, it will be a "direct" violation of UN resolutions banning ballistic missile launches and "a grave provocation and threat against (regional and global) peace and stability," he said.
His comment came amid discussions among UN security council members for tougher sanctions against Pyongyang for its announcement on January 6 that it successfully exploded a hydrogen bomb, although experts voiced scepticism.
On Wednesday in Beijing US secretary of state John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed on the need for a significant new UN resolution against the North but there were few signs of concrete progress.
China urged Pyongyang to refrain from provocative actions as well as from continuing the vicious cycle of raising tensions.
North Korea claimed in December 2012 that it successfully launched a long-range rocket to put a satellite into orbit. Seoul and its allies condemned it as a disguised test for an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The 2012 launch sparked concern about North Korea's ability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead to mount on a missile. Concern about North Korean missiles grew in South Korea last year when Pyongyang said it had successfully conducted a rare test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile.
North Korea's nuclear and missile programs have invited international condemnation and sanctions. But the North has continued to upgrade its launch site with an extended launchpad for a bigger, multi-stage missile.
Expert analysis of previous satellite images suggested North Korea had completed upgrades at Sohae with its launchpad capable of handling rockets up to 50 meters 165 ft) in length, longer than the Unha-3 rocket launched in 2012.
Charles Lim
아주경제 임장원 기자 = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
