North Korea to invite observers to satellite launch

North Korea said Saturday it would invite foreign experts and journalists to observe a satellite launch which has sparked widespread condemnation and US threats that it could jeopardise food aid. The Korean Committee for Space Technology "will invite experienced foreign experts on space science and technology and journalists" to observe the blast-off next month, the official news agency said.
The North announced Friday it would launch a long-range rocket carrying the satellite between April 12-16 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founding president Kim Il-Sung. The United States, Japan and South Korea said the plan, announced just 16 days after Pyongyang agreed to suspend long-range missile tests in return for the US food aid, would breach a UN ban imposed after previous missile launches.
Pyongyang insists the programme is part of peaceful space research, while the US and other nations see it as a disguised missile test. UN Security Council resolution 1874, passed after the North's missile launch and nuclear test in 2009, bans the country from carrying out any ballistic missile launches for any purpose.
The news agency said it had told the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the International Maritime Organisation, the International Telecommunication Union and other bodies about the upcoming launch. The main newspaper Rodong Sinmun said the rocket will take a "safer" flight path compared to previous launches that strayed into Japanese airspace.
The new flight orbit showcased the country's advancing "technological prowess" and "economic power", Professor Ko Yong-Hae from the Kim Il-Sung University wrote in the paper published Saturday. The North's announcement appeared to jeopardise a February 29 agreement with the United States, which had raised hopes of eased tensions under new leader Kim Jong-Un. The North agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment programme, along with long-range missile launches and nuclear tests, in return for 240,000 tonnes of much-needed US food aid.
The US State Department called the proposed launch "highly provocative" and a threat to regional security. And it voiced doubt over whether it could move ahead with providing the food aid if Pyongyang followed through with its threat.
"Were we to have a launch, it would create obviously tensions and that would make the implementation of any kind of nutritional agreement quite difficult," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. Nuland said that US diplomats told their North Korean counterparts prior to the February 29 agreement that a missile launch would be a "deal breaker".
South Korea and Japan condemned the plan. Russia also voiced concern and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on North Korea not to go ahead. Even China, the North's closest ally, expressed concern. Vice foreign minister Zhang Zhijun met Ji Jae-Ryong, Pyongyang's ambassador, on Friday to express Beijing's worries, the official Xinhua news agency said.
"We sincerely hope parties concerned stay calm and exercise restraint," Zhang was quoted as saying. The North's last long-range rocket launch on April 5, 2009, also purportedly to put a satellite into orbit, brought UN Security Council condemnation and tightened sanctions.