North Korea has said shooting down the rocket would be an act of war

Reuters News Agency
from the Ottawa Citizen
March 24, 2009

SEOUL - North Korea said on Tuesday any attempt by the UN Security Council to punish it for trying to put a satellite in space would mean the collapse of international disarmament talks aimed at ending its nuclear programme.

North Korea has said it would launch a satellite between April 4 and 8. Regional powers see the launch as a disguised test of its longest-range missile and a violation of UN sanctions forbidding the reclusive state from firing ballistic missiles.

"It is perversity to say satellite launch technology cannot be distinguished from a long-range missile technology and so must be dealt with by the UN Security Council, which is like saying a kitchen knife is no different from a bayonet," state media quoted a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.

The unidentified spokesman said "such an act of hostility" would be in defiance of the Sept. 19 joint statement, a disarmament-for-aid deal the impoverished North reached with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

"If the Sept. 19 joint statement is nullified, there will be neither the foundation nor the meaning for the existence of the six-party talks," the spokesman said.

North Korea has given international agencies notice of the rocket’s planned trajectory that would take it over Japan, dropping booster stages to its east and west.

Analysts said the notice was given to help the North argue the rocket launch does not violate UN sanctions put in place after it test-launched a series of missiles in 2006.

South Korea, Japan and the United States have all said they want to press sanctions against the North for a launch and see no difference between a satellite launch and a missile launch because they use the same rocket — called the Taepodong-2.

"ACT OF WAR"

Japan may deploy two Aegis-equipped destroyers, capable of shooting down missiles, to waters between North Korea and Japan, Japanese media have said. The United States also has naval ships deployed in Asia that can intercept missiles.

North Korea has said shooting down the rocket would be an act of war.

Japan’s foreign minister said it would be difficult to intercept debris falling from the rocket.

"Our country has not done this before. We don’t know how or where it will fly," Hirofumi Nakasone told reporters.

The first and only time the North test-launched the Taepodong-2 in 2006, it fizzled shortly into flight and blew apart after about 40 seconds.
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