North Korea notifies Japan of rocket path

North Korea has notified neighbours including Japan of the trajectory of the rocket it plans to launch this month, a report said today, after international condemnation of the move by the nuclear-armed state.

The communist North announced yesterday it would launch a rocket sometime between December 10 and 22 — its second long-range rocket launch this year after a much-hyped but botched attempt in April.

Washington and Seoul urged Pyongyang to scrap the launch while Tokyo reportedly postponed talks due next week with North Korea and ordered its military to prepare to shoot down the rocket if it goes over Japan.

“The North has notified aviation authorities in nations including Japan that could come under potential danger ... of the timing and expected path (of the rocket),” Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed senior Seoul official as saying.

China and the Philippines were also likely to have been notified, it added.

The North said yesterday the rocket would blast off “southward” from its Sohae Space Centre in the country’s northwest.

“A safe flight path has been chosen so that parts of the carrier rocket that might fall during the launch process would not affect neighbouring countries,” it said.

It added Pyongyang would “fully comply” with relevant international rules for the launch, which some analysts said was aimed at stirring patriotism and support for the country’s young, inexperienced ruler Kim Jong-Un.

Pyongyang also repeated its claim made during its April launch that the rocket was aimed at promoting “the use of space for peaceful purposes” by placing a polar-orbiting earth observation satellite into orbit.

But the US and its allies view the launch as a disguised test for an inter-continental ballistic missile banned under UN resolutions triggered by Pyongyang’s two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

COMMENT NOW