MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Moscow has expressed its great concern about North Korea’s plans to launch a ballistic missile to orbit a satellite, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
“The announcement of the upcoming launch of a carrier rocket in North Korea calls for great concern. We need to state the fact that, heading toward yet another UN Security Council violation, the North Korean side is demonstrating defiant neglect to the accepted norms of international law. We call on the North Korean side to seriously consider where this open contradiction by North Korea to the international community will lead to and to realistically assess all of the downfalls of such short-sighted steps,” the statement on the ministry’s website reads.
Pyongyang has notified UN agencies on its plans to launch an earth observation satellite between February 8 and 25.
North Korea previously reported on a successful launch of a satellite in 2012, in violation of a UN Security Council resolution. The resolution bans Pyongyang from launching rockets that may be used as ballistic long-range missiles with nuclear warheads.
The situation over North Korea's nuclear activity deteriorated following an alleged test of a hydrogen bomb claimed by Pyongyang on January 6.
