North Korea has scheduled a satellite launch for early next month, South Korean officials said yesterday, as Washington and Seoul told Pyongyang to scrap what they see as a disguised missile test.
Pyongyang has informed the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that it will fire a rocket to launch the satellite between April 4 and April 8, an official at Seoul’s maritime affairs ministry said.
Citing information from the IMO, the official said the North had told the UN regulatory agency of two risk areas, one in the Pacific Ocean and the other in the Sea of Japan (East Sea).
“The IMO is currently working on an official safety notice, which it will soon hand out to its member countries,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Earlier yesterday, the North said it had provided “necessary information for the safe navigation of planes and ships” as part of preparations for launching “an experimental communications satellite.”
South Korean and US officials believe the real intention is to test a Taepodong-2 missile that could theoretically reach Alaska.
The nuclear-armed North has asserted its right to peaceful space research and says any attempt to shoot down its rocket will be seen as an act of war.
There have been reports for weeks that the North is preparing to test-fire the Taepodong-2 from a base at Musudan-ri on the northeast coast.
The missile failed after 40 seconds when first launched in July 2006, and the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for a halt to such tests.
Three months after that, the North staged an atomic weapons test. It is unclear whether it has the capability to manufacture a nuclear warhead.
Seoul’s Yonhap news agency said a missile has not been set upright at Musudan-ri, but launch preparations could be completed within two weeks.
Tensions are already high after Pyongyang ordered its military on combat alert and banned South Korean airlines from its airspace. It was protesting an ongoing US-South Korean military exercise, which it sees as a rehearsal for invasion.
North Korea also announced it had joined an international treaty and convention on the peaceful use of space. South Korea’s foreign ministry confirmed that Pyongyang this month sent relevant documents to Russia’s foreign ministry and to the UN.
“The North’s accession to the treaty is aimed at paving the way for claiming that the launch, which may come in the future, is to put a satellite in orbit,” spokesman Moon Tae-young said. “Irrespective of those moves, such a launch would be a breach of UN Resolution 1718.”
Japan’s government said it “would not tolerate” any North Korean act that raises regional tensions.
Russia’s chief nuclear negotiator, Alexei Borodavkin, urged restraint.
“There should be restraint, there should be an evading of any actions which could undermine security and stability on the peninsula,” he told reporters after talks with his Seoul counterpart, Wi Sung-lac.
Asked whether any launch would violate a UN resolution, Borodavkin replied: “Let us wait and see what will be the real technical parameters of this launch.”
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from
RSS