SEOUL- North Korea has notified neighbors including Japan of the
trajectory of the rocket it plans to launch this month, a report said
Sunday, after international condemnation of the move by the
nuclear-armed state.
The communist North announced on Saturday it would launch a
rocket sometime between December 10 and 22 — its second long-range
rocket launch this year after a much-hyped but botched attempt in April.
Washington and Seoul urged Pyongyang to scrap the launch while
Tokyo reportedly postponed talks due next week with North Korea and
ordered its military to prepare to shoot down the rocket if it goes over
Japan.
“The North has notified aviation authorities in nations including
Japan that could come under potential danger … of the timing and
expected path (of the rocket),” Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed
senior Seoul official as saying.
China and the Philippines were also likely to have been notified, it added.
The North said Saturday the rocket would blast off “southward” from its Sohae Space Centre in the country’s northwest.
It added Pyongyang would “fully comply” with relevant international rules for the launch, which some analysts said was aimed at stirring patriotism and support for the country’s young, inexperienced ruler Kim Jong-Un.
Pyongyang also repeated its claim made during its April launch that the rocket was aimed at promoting “the use of space for peaceful purposes” by placing a polar-orbiting earth observation satellite into orbit.
But the US and its allies view the launch as a disguised test for an inter-continental ballistic missile banned under UN resolutions triggered by Pyongyang’s two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
Philippine News Link