SEOUL, South Korea \u2014 South Korea and Japan on Wednesday echoed US warnings that North Korea would pay a heavy price if it pushes ahead with a planned rocket launch just weeks after conducting its fourth nuclear test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Urging Pyongyang to drop its plans for a launch as early as next week, the government in Seoul said the move would be a serious breach of UN resolutions and a “direct challenge” to the international community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned what he called a “serious provocation” and clear violation of Pyongyang’s international obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The warnings came a day after the North announced a Feb. 8-25 window for the launch, ostensibly aimed at putting an Earth observation satellite into orbit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UN resolutions forbid the North from any use of ballistic missile technology, and Tuesday’s announcement saw Pyongyang doubling down against an international community already struggling to come up with a united response to last month’s nuclear test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It’s a classic move,” said John Delury, an associate professor at Yonsei University in Seoul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“While waiting for a full response for the nuclear test, you might as well sneak in a rocket launch. The North tends to do these things in pairs,” Delury said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States, which has been spearheading a diplomatic drive for harsher, more effective sanctions on Pyongyang, was quick to condemn the launch plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘Egregious Violation’ <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Daniel Russel, the assistant US secretary of state for Asia-Pacific affairs slammed what he called “yet another egregious violation” of UN resolutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This argues even more strongly for action by the UN Security Council and the international community to impose… tough additional sanctions,” Russel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In formal notifications sent to three UN agencies, including the International Maritime Organization (IMO), North Korea said the launch would take place in the morning with a daily window of 7:00am-midday Pyongyang time (2230-0330 GMT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dates suggest a launch around the time of the birthday on February 16 of late leader Kim Jong-Il, father of current leader Kim Jong-Un.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The South Korean government statement urged Pyongyang to call off the launch immediately or pay a “heavy price” for threatening regional peace and stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n UN sanctions were tightened after North Korea successfully placed a satellite in orbit on a three-stage Unha-3 rocket in December 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A fresh launch poses a dilemma for the international community, which is already divided on how to punish the North for its nuclear test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n North Korea’s chief diplomatic ally, China, has been resisting the US push for tougher sanctions, but a rocket launch would bolster calls for Beijing to bring its maverick neighbor into line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pressure on China? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “However, I’m not sure if China will change its position,” said Delury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The nuclear test is a far bigger deal for Beijing than the rocket launch, so I don’t expect any tangible shift in China’s perspective, whatever the US says,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n US Secretary of State John Kerry sought to pressure his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during a visit to Beijing last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the two sides agreed to mount an “accelerated effort” to try to resolve their differences on a new resolution, Kerry acknowledged that they had not agreed on the “parameters of exactly what it would do or say.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since early 2013, North Korea has been upgrading its Sohae satellite launch complex to handle larger, longer-range rockets with heavier payloads, but most experts say Pyongyang is still years from obtaining a credible intercontinental ballistic missile capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The flight plan coordinates sent to the IMO were similar to the December 2012 launch \u2014 suggesting an Unha-3 would again be the selected carrier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The separated first stage was predicted to fall in the Yellow Sea around 200 kilometers off the west coast of South Korea, followed by a second stage splashdown in the Philippine Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Japan has said its military will shoot down any rocket that strays into its air space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Korea and Japan on Wednesday echoed US warnings that North Korea would pay a heavy price if it pushes ahead with a planned rocket launch just weeks after conducting its fourth nuclear test.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":51556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":33,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2793],"class_list":["post-23333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"T25ZYUCDABHMTN6JHPCASXHTTU","arc_canonical_url":"\/home\/2016\/02\/03\/anger-sanctions-threats-greet-north-korea-rocket-launch-plans\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n