By Lee Chi-dong
WASHINGTON, April 4 (Yonhap) -- The United States cautioned the world Wednesday against any action that may send the wrong signal to North Korea as it seeks to justify its planned rocket launch.

   "We call on the international community to abstain from taking any actions, such as sending observers, that might be seen as endorsing a launch that would be in blatant defiance of the DPRK’s international obligations and commitments,”a State Department official told Yonhap News Agency. DPRK stands for the North's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

   The official was responding to a question on whether the U.S. has received an invitation from the North to observe its long-range rocket launch between April 12 and April 16.

   The North says it intends to put a satellite into orbit in accordance with its sovereign right of space exploration.

   The U.S. and its allies, however, regard it as a guise for an intercontinental ballistic missile test.

   "We are aware of news reports that North Korea has invited international observers to its announced missile launch planned for mid-April,”the official said on the customary condition of anonymity.

   Critics dismiss it as Pyongyang's attempt to gain international recognition for its space program. The North has designated 2012 as the year it will become a "strong and prosperous" nation, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the April 15 birth of its founder, Kim Il-sung.

   “The United States will not send any observers," added the official. "As we have consistently stated, North Korea’s planned missile launch would be a clear violation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874, and a threat to regional peace and security. “
The resolutions ban the North's use of any ballistic missile technology.

   lcd@yna.co.kr
leechidong@gmail.com
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