NEW YORK — North Korea would pay a “harsh price” if it fired a rocket into space, South Korea said Wednesday, after Pyongyang told U.N. agencies that it was planning a satellite launch later this month. ADVERTISING NEW YORK —
NEW YORK — North Korea would pay a “harsh price” if it fired a rocket into space, South Korea said Wednesday, after Pyongyang told U.N. agencies that it was planning a satellite launch later this month.
The launch would be a “challenge” to the international community, said Cho Tae Yong, deputy chief of the presidential office of national security, according to Yonhap News Agency.
“We sternly warn North Korea that it will pay a harsh price” if it goes ahead, he was quoted as saying.
The U.N. said it had been informed of plans to launch an “Earth observation satellite” between Feb. 8 and 25, less than a month after the reclusive regime’s controversial nuclear test.
Three U.N. agencies that handle maritime, telecommunication and civil aviation issues had been notified, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said.
“Right now, we are carefully monitoring developments and are in close touch with the interested parties and international organizations,” he said.
The United States said the planned launch would be a provocation and that it is continuing to work with the international community to weigh its actions following a North Korean nuclear test last month.
“The international community would regard a step like that by the North Koreans as just another irresponsible provocation and a clear violation of their international obligations,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
North Korea launched a rocket in 2012, claiming it had sent a satellite into space. But the U.S. charged the country with having secretly tested intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear capabilities.
North Korea says it exploded a hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6, but Western experts say evidence suggests it was more likely to have been a conventional atom bomb. An H-bomb has a higher explosive force than what was observed.
The communist country carried out three atomic bomb tests between 2006 and 2013, leading to stiff sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council.
