North Korea said today it would launch a long-range rocket next month to put a satellite into orbit, a move that would breach a United Nations ban imposed after previous launches.
The announcement came just 16 days after the North's new leaders agreed to suspend long-range missile tests as part of a deal under which it would receive 240,000 tonnes of US food aid.
Blast-off will be between April 12 and 16 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of founding leader Kim Il-Sung, the communist state's official news agency and state television said.
Its last long-range rocket launch on April 5, 2009, purportedly to put a satellite into orbit, brought UN Security Council condemnation and a tightening of sanctions.
Pyongyang quit six-party nuclear disarmament talks in protest at the censure and conducted its second atomic weapons test the following month.
That deal, under which Pyongyang also promised to freeze its uranium enrichment plant, had raised hopes of eased tensions. But one analyst said Friday's announcement effectively killed it off.
The North says its satellite launches are for peaceful purposes while the United States and other nations call them disguised missile tests.
UN Security Council Resolution 1874, passed after the North's second nuclear test, demands that it "not conduct any further nuclear test or any launch using ballistic missile technology".
