A model space shuttle in the lobby of the Mangyongdae Children's Palace in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Alexander F. Yuan/AP)
TOKYO — North Korea has warned it could launch a satellite — widely seen as cover for a long-range ballistic missile test — as soon as Sunday, moving up the date range for its planned launch.
With tensions still running high after last month’s nuclear test, Pyongyang is defying international exhortations to desist from further provocations, andlast week warned it would launch a rocket between Feb. 8 and 25.
But Saturday, Jon Ki Chol, director general of North Korea’s Maritime Administration, advised that the launch could take place as soon as Sunday.
“On the launch schedule of earth observation satellite ‘Kwangmyongsong,’ I have the honour to inform you that the reserved launch date has changed to 7-14 February 2016,” Jon wrote in a letter to the International Maritime Organization, the body responsible for safety at sea.
North Korea also updated its “notice to airmen” with the new date range.
Japan and South Korea have warned airlines of potential hazards along flight paths in the area, with the rocket expected to be fired from the Sohae satellite launching station on North Korea’s west coast, not far from the border with South Korea, then projected to fly over the southern Japanese islands of Okinawa and falling into the sea east of the Philippines.
Japan has three Patriot surface-to-air missile systems ready in Tokyo and four in Okinawa, poised to shoot down the rocket.
North Korea last fired a long-range missile in December 2012, sending what it said was a communications satellite into orbit for scientific purposes. That launch coincided with the first anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Il, the current leader’s father.
This month’s planned launch is also expected to see a Kwangmyongsong-3 (“lode star”) satellite fired on an Unha-3 (“galaxy”) missile, although North Korean state media reports have mentioned other models of rockets all the way up to the Unha-9. It also coincides with another key date: North Korea’s celebration of Kim Jong Il’s birthday on Feb. 16.
