PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea
said Saturday it will launch a long-range rocket between Dec. 10 and Dec. 22, a
move likely to heighten already strained tensions with Washington and Seoul
ahead of a South Korean presidential election on Dec. 19.
This would be North Korea's second launch
attempt under leader Kim Jong Un, who took power following his father Kim Jong
Il's death nearly a year ago. The announcement comes several weeks after
President Barack Obama was elected to a second term in the United States and
ahead of his January inauguration.
Washington considers North Korea's rocket
tests to be veiled covers for tests of long-range missile technology banned by
the United Nations.
An unnamed spokesman for the Korean
Committee for Space
Technology said North Korea had "analyzed the mistakes" made in a failed April
launch and improved the precision of the rocket and satellite, according to the
official Korean Central News Agency. The April launch broke up shortly after
liftoff, but quickly drew condemnation from the United Nations, Washington,
Seoul and other capitals.
The North's statement said a rocket carrying
a polar-orbiting earth observation satellite will blast off southward from its
northwest coastal space center.
The United States has criticized North
Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles as a threat to Asian
and world security.
North Korea under its young leader has
pledged to bolster its nuclear arsenal unless Washington scraps what Pyongyang
calls a hostile policy.