PYONGYANG (Reuters) – North Korea said on Tuesday it is ready to launch its controversial long-range
rocket on schedule, prompting warnings it could sharply ratchet up tensions on the Korean peninsula.
rocket sitting on a launch pad at the West Sea Satellite Launch Site, during a guided media tour by North Korean authorities
in the northwest of Pyongyang April 8, 2012. REUTERS/Bobby Yip
China reiterated its calls for calm and restraint.
The launch of the Unha-3 rocket, which
North Korea says will merely put a weather satellite into orbit, breaches U.N. sanctions imposed to prevent Pyongyang from
developing a missile that could carry a nuclear warhead.
“…We’ve already announced that the launch will happen
between the 12th and 16th of April and we have already informed international organisations and we will follow the timed
schedule,” said Ryu Kum-chol, vice director of the space development department of the Korean Central Space
Committee.
The launch is due to coincide with the 100th anniversary celebrations of the country’s founder, Kim
Il-sung. North Korea says that it is its sovereign right to launch the rocket, which it says is for peaceful
purposes.
South Korea, which remains technically at war with the North, warned that the impoverished country of 23
million people would deepen its isolation if it went ahead.
The prospect of a North Korean rocket launch has alarmed
Japan, which was overflown by an earlier rocket and said it would shoot it down if it crossed its airspace.
Airlines
have re-routed flights to avoid the missile’s path.
(Reporting by Maxim Duncan; Writing by David Chance; Editing by
Nick Macfie)