Japan said on Friday it could shoot down any threatening object falling towards its territory, after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said a planned rocket launch would send it across Japanese territory.
The DPRK has given notice to global agencies that it plans to launch a satellite between April 4 and 8, presenting a challenge to new US President Barack Obama and allies who see it as a disguised missile test.
"Under our law, we can intercept any object if it is falling towards Japan, including any attacks on Japan, for our safety," Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told a news conference.
The Republic of Korea's (ROK) Foreign Ministry said in a statement any such launch would be in violation of Security Council Resolution 1718.
"If North Korea (DPRK) goes ahead with the launch, we believe there will be discussions and a response by the Security Council on the violation of the resolution."
The DPRK told agencies including the International Maritime Organization the launch would take place over Japan in daylight hours and that the boosters would fall into the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean, the IMO said.
The DPRK has said it is sending a communication satellite into orbit, and has the right to do so under its space program. The United States, the ROK and Japan have said they see no difference between a satellite launch and a missile test because they use the same rocket, the DPRK's long-range missile called the Taepodong-2 with a range that could take it to Alaska.
The only time the DPRK tested the Taepodong-2 in 2006, it blew apart a few seconds after being fired. Analysts said the DPRK appears to have made technological advances to fix flight problems and is confident of a successful launch.
The UN sanctions imposed after the 2006 test forbid further ballistic missile testing.
"Giving the coordinates and letting everyone know that the boosters will drop in areas that are not a threat to anyone is a way of showing that they have acquired technical precision," said Cho Min of the Korea Institute of National Unification.
The notice itself, unprecedented for the DPRK which previously launched ballistic missiles without warning, also indicates it is seriously troubled that the United States or Japan might try to shoot it down, said Baek Seung-joo, an analyst at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.
The DPRK has said it would consider that to be an act of war.
Analysts do not expect the United States will intercept the rocket because the DPRK launch poses no severe or immediate security threats while a strike could greatly ratchet up tensions and increase risk to the region's major economies.
The DPRK on Friday again stopped crossings of ROK personnel into a jointly run factory park on its side of the armed border, four days after cutting off military communication and temporarily suspending border crossings for a day, the Unification Ministry in Seoul said.
More than 200 ROK personnel who are at the Kaesong industrial park remain stranded at the plant just north of the border, once hailed as a model in reconciliation.
(China Daily March 14, 2009)