North Korea said Monday that it will launch a satellite aboard a long range rocket to mark the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.
"The National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) is pushing forward in the final phase the development of a new earth observation satellite for weather forecast," NADA director told the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), according to Yonhap. "The world will clearly see a series of satellites of (North) Korea soaring into the sky at the times and locations determined by the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea."
North Korea has said the space development for peaceful purposes is a "sovereign state's legitimate right," according to Reuters.
"The people of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) are fully determined to exercise this right no matter what others may say about it," the official news agency said in a statement.
South Korea has said any launch of a ballistic missile is a serious act of provocation and described the north's move as a military threat.
"It is a military threat and a clear violation of the U.N. resolutions banning any activities using ballistic missile technology," South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok said, according to AFP.
The United States also warned any satellite launch by the Pyongyang using ballistic missile technology would be a clear violation of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions that ask the north to stop its ballistic missile program.
"There are multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions that require North Korea to suspend all activities related to their ballistic missile program and re-establish a moratorium on missile launches. So any satellite launch using ballistic missile technology would be a clear violation of those resolutions," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said, according to United Press International.
