Associated Press writers Youkyung Lee and Jiyoung Won in Seoul, South Korea, contributed for the following report: on April 24, 2012.

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea promised Monday to reduce South Korea's conservative government to ashes in less than four minutes, in an unusually specific escalation of recent threats aimed at its southern rival.

The statement by North Korea's military, carried by state media, comes amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula. Both Koreas recently unveiled new missiles, and the North tried unsuccessfully to launch a long-range rocket earlier this month.

The growing animosity has prompted worries that North Korea may conduct a nuclear test — something it did after rocket launches in 2006 and 2009. South Korean intelligence officials say recent satellite images show the North has been digging a new tunnel in what appears to be preparation for a third atomic test.

North Korea's military vowed in its statement to begin special actions soon against the government and conservative media companies that would reduce all the rat-like groups and the bases for provocations to ashes in three or four minutes, (or) in much shorter time, by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style.

North Korea regularly criticizes Seoul and just last week renewed its promise to wage a sacred war, saying South Korean President Lee Myung-bak had insulted the North's April 15 celebrations of the birth centennial of national founder Kim Il Sung.

But Monday's message, distributed by the state-run Korean Central News Agency and attributed to the Korean People's Army's Supreme Command, was unusual in promising something soon and in describing a specific period of time.

Seoul expressed worry that the threats were hurting relations between the countries and increasing animosity.

We urge North Korea to immediately stop this practice, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk told reporters, according to the ministry. We express deep concern that the North's threats and accusations have worsened inter-Korean ties and heightened tensions.

A Defense Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing office rules, said no special military movement had been observed in the North.

Some South Korean analysts speculated the North's statement was meant to unnerve Seoul, while others said the North could be planning terrorist attacks.

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Per Yahoo News same date, reported that It seemed unlikely that North Korea would launch a large-scale military attack against Seoul, which is backed by nearly 30,000 U.S. troops stationed in the South, said Kim Young-soo, a professor at Sogang University in Seoul.

The threat follows U.N. condemnation of the North Korean launch of a long-range rocket that exploded shortly after liftoff on April 13. Washington, Seoul and others called the launch a cover for testing long-range missile technology. North Korea said the launch was meant to put a satellite into orbit.

Relations between the Koreas have been abysmal since Lee took office in 2008 with a hard-line policy that ended unconditional aid shipments to the North.

In Beijing, North Korea's biggest ally, China's top foreign policy official met Sunday with a North Korean delegation and expressed confidence in the country's new young leader, Kim Jong UN).

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The measurment of The Threat to U.S. is no differences when North Korea is threatening to the South Korea:

According to AP, A senior North Korean army official says his country is armed with "powerful mobile weapons" capable of striking America.

Vice Marshal Ri Yong Ho emphasized the importance of defending the North against the U.S. and South Korea as Pyongyang marked the 80th anniversary of the nation's army Wednesday.

He told officials at the April 25 House of Culture that the weapons could defeat the U.S. "at a single blow."

North Korea made another unusual claim Monday, promising "special actions" that would reduce Seoul's government to ashes.

North Korea is believed to have nuclear weapons but not the technology to put them on long-range missiles. A rocket launch that the U.S. claimed was a North Korean attempt to test miss ile technology failed this month, however, media talks that according to south military source, there are no special movement at this time.

The media around the world have responded by the threat that North Korea shown via their report:

BBC : "...the statement carried by the state news agency gave a detailed information about an attack it said it would soon carry out... it has North Korean soldiers shouting the word 'kill' and attacking effigies of the South Korean president."

The statement targets South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak and the some members of the media in the South.

ABC News: the statement said the military attack will use...

"...'unprecedented peculiar means and methods[']...[and] all will be reduced to ashes in three to four minutes...[involving] 'form of fire'."

Although Analysts in Seoul have mixed reactions towards the threat, but the Voice of America suggests the threat should not be taken lightly, noting the newscaster made the announcement by...

"...interrupting regular programming on North Korea's central television station early Monday afternoon, forcefully [reading] an unusual announcement from a unit of the army's supreme command."

CNN: the threat could be due to the South Korean military's announcement of a cruise missile capable of striking any site in North Korean territory.

The Christian Science Monitor: the threat comes at a time when the U.S. and South Korean forces are concerned about the stability of the North Korean leadership.

"One overriding question...is how to assess the role of the country's new leader Kim Jong-un, how much power he really wields over his generals and how he's likely to want to lead North Korea."

Analysts tell the New York Times, the North's threat might be recently appointed Premier Kim Jong-Un's attempt to solidify power, including...

"...a military provocation as part of its effort to establish Mr. Kim's authority at home and boost his negotiating leverage with the United States..."

The threat increases tension between the North and South, but according to Thestar.com, a South Korean Defense Ministry official says no special military movement had been observed in the North.

U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs), Dated April 9th, 2012, Immediate News Release shows that Secretary Panetta and Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan Jin spoke by phone this evening to discuss the announced North Korean missile launch. Both leaders would regard a missile launch by North Korea as a serious provocation and a violation of North Korea’s international obligations and standing UN Security Council Resolutions.

Secretary Panetta and Minister Kim reaffirmed their shared commitment to closely monitor North Korea’s efforts and to ensure the defense of the Republic of Korea. Related link see above Icon.

SEOUL (Reuters) - A bristling North Korea said on Wednesday it was ready to retaliate in the face of international condemnation over its failed rocket launch, increasing the likelihood the hermit state will push ahead with a third nuclear test.

The North also ditched an agreement to allow back inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. That followed a U.S. decision, in response to a rocket launch the United States says was a disguised long-range missile test, to break off a deal earlier this year to provide the impoverished state with food aid.

Pyongyang called the U.S. move a hostile act and said it was no longer bound to stick to its side of the February 29 agreement, dashing any hopes that new leader Kim Jong-un would soften a foreign policy that has for years been based on the threat of an atomic arsenal to leverage concessions out of regional powers.

We have thus become able to take necessary retaliatory measures, free from the agreement, the official KCNA news agency said, without specifying what actions it might take.

Many analysts expect that with its third test, North Korea will for the first time try a nuclear device using highly enriched uranium, something it was long suspected of developing but which it only publicly admitted to about two years ago.

If it conducts a nuclear test, it will be uranium rather than plutonium because North Korea would want to use the test as a big global advertisement for its newer, bigger nuclear capabilities, said Baek Seung-joo of the Seoul-based Korea Institute for Defence Analysis.

Defence experts say that by successfully enriching uranium, to make bombs of the type dropped on Hiroshima nearly 70 years ago, the North would be able to significantly build it up stocks of weapons-grade nuclear material.

It would also allow it more easily to manufacture a nuclear warhead to mount on a long-range missile.

The latest international outcry against Pyongyang followed last week's rocket launch, which the United States and others said was in reality the test of a long range missile with the potential to reach the U.S. mainland.

China, the North's main economic and diplomatic backer, called for dialogue and communication and continued engagement with the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors.

North Korea has insisted that the rocket launch, which in a rare public admission it said failed, was meant to put a satellite into orbit as part of celebrations to mark the 100th birthday of former president Kim Il-sung, whose family has ruled the autocratic state since it was founded after World War Two. Kim died in 1994.

The peninsula has been divided ever since with the two Koreas yet to sign a formal peace treaty to end the 1950-53 Korean War.

SATELLITE IMAGES

Recent satellite images have showed that the North has pushed ahead with work at a facility where it conducted previous nuclear tests.

While the nuclear tests have successfully alarmed its neighbors, including China, they also showcase the North's technological skills which helps impress a hardline military at home and buyers of North Korean weapons, one of its few viable exports.

The North has long argued that in the face of a hostile United States, which has military bases in South Korea and Japan, it needs a nuclear arsenal to defend itself.

The new young leadership of North Korea has a very stark choice; they need to take a hard look at their polices, stop the provocative action, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a news conference in Brazil's capital.

The Swiss-educated Kim Jong-un, who is in his late 20s, rose to power after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, last December. The country's propaganda machine has since made much of his physical likeness to his revered grandfather, the first leader and now North Korea's eternal president .

But hopes that the young Kim could prove to be a reformer have faded fast. In his first public speech on Sunday, the chubby leader made clear that he would stick to the pro-military policies of his father that helped push the country into a devastating famine in the 1990s.

Kim is surrounded by the same coterie of generals that advised his father and he oversaw Sunday's mass military parade.

He urged his people and 1.2 million strong armed forces to move forward to final victory as he lauded his grandfather's and father's achievements in building the country's military.

Siegfried Hecker, a U.S. nuclear expert who in 2010 saw a uranium enrichment facility in North Korea, believes the state has 24-42 kg (53 to 95 pounds) of plutonium, enough for four to eight bombs.

Production of plutonium at its Yongbyon reprocessing plant has been halted since 2009 and producing highly enriched uranium would simultaneously allow Pyongyang to push ahead with its nuclear power program and augment its small plutonium stocks that could be used for weapons, Hecker says.

I believe North Korean scientists and engineers have been working to design miniaturized warheads for years, but they will need to test to demonstrate that the design works: no nuclear test, no confidence, Hecker said in a paper last week.

Unlike the claim that Pyongyang can make that its space launch is purely for civilian purposes, there is no such civilian cover for a nuclear test. It is purely for military reasons.

(Additional reporting by Choonsik Yoo and Jack Kim; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Nick Macfie)

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According to Global security, For many years, there has been a lack of understanding of the origins of North Korean strategic ballistic missile program. Equally absent from public the discussion about Missile Technology Control Regime is the assistance that Iran has provided to the North Koran strategic ballistic missile program and North Korea's contribution to Iran's strategic ballistic missile program.

The Taepo Dong-1 missile was test-fired in August 1998. In 1999 North Korea agreed to suspend tests of long-range missiles, and Pyongyang has extended that moratorium through 2003.

In October 2003 a report released by the South Korean defense ministry estimated that North Korea had shipped over 400 SCUD-class ballistic missiles to the Middle East since the 1980s. The biggest buyers were Iran, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria, but also include Egypt and Libya.

South Korea's defense ministry estimates that North Korea has about 600 Scuds and about 100 Nodong missiles. The [DPRK] North Korea was in 2008 credited by South Korea to have 800 deployed missiles but in March 2010 they were credited with 1,000 missiles deployed. That is 100-150 Scud-B's 300 Scud-C's, 350 Scud-ER's and 200 No-dong-A's equaling 1,000 deployed and perhaps 20 No-dong-B's in a single division identified. North Korea is also credited with having enough weapons grade plutonium to have created 6-8 nuclear device weapons that they will eventually be able to place inside a already perfected missile born re-entry vehicle to make a nuclear warhead according to South Korean government analysis.

May 29 and 30, 1993: North Korean missile test occurred North Korea fired a Nodong-1 missile into the Sea of Japan (East Sea of Korea), from a base in Hwadae County near Wonsan, North Korea. The target was a buoy floating in the Sea of Japan. The North Koreans were testing the missile so they could export it to Iran in return for oil. Japanese and United States officials waited a few days before disclosing the launch of the missile. Afterwards, North Korea reaffirmed its commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Test 1: 1998 North Korean missile test- (August 31, 1998) - Taepodong-1: Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1 ( Bright Star 1) was a satellite allegedly launched by North Korea on 31 August 1998. While the North Korean government claimed that the launch was successful, no objects were ever tracked in orbit from the launch, and outside North Korea it is considered to have been a failure. It was the first satellite to be launched as part of the Kwangmyŏngsŏng programme, and the first satellite that North Korea attempted to launch.

Test 2: 2006 North Korean missile test- (July 5, 2006) - Taepodong-2, Nodong-2 failed: Two rounds of North Korean missile tests were conducted on July 5, 2006. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) reportedly fired at least seven separate missiles. These included two short-range Nodong-2 missiles, one Scud missile and up to two long-range Taepodong-2 missiles;[2] the latter having been estimated by United States intelligence agencies as having a potential range reaching as far as Alaska in its current stage.[3] Some, including Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, believed that North Korea would carry out additional missile tests in the days that followed.

Test 3:* 2009 North Korean satellite rocket launch- (April 5, 2009) - Unha-2: Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 (Bright Star-2 or Lode Star-2) was a satellite the North Korean government claimed to have placed into orbit in April 2009. According to the North Korean government, an Unha-2 rocket carrying the satellite was launched on Sunday 5 April 2009 at 11:20 local time (02:20 UTC) from the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground at Musudan-ri in northeastern North Korea. However, officials in South Korea and the United States reported that the rocket and any payload had fallen into the Pacific Ocean. The Russian Space Control concurred, stating that the satellite simply is not there .

2009 North Korean nuclear testand following the nuclear test, Pyongyang also conducted several missile tests.

Test 4: 2012 North Korean satellite rocket launch- (April 12-16, 2012) - Unha-3: Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 (Bright Star-3 or Lode Star-3) was a North Korean Earth observation satellite, which according to the DPRK was for weather forecast purposes, and whose launch was widely portrayed in the West to be a veiled ballistic missile test. The satellite was launched on 13 April 2012 at 7:39 am KST aboard the Unha-3 carrier rocket from Sohae Satellite Launching Station. The rocket exploded 90 seconds after launch near the end of the firing of the first stage of the rocket. The launch was planned to mark the centenary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the republic.

At least, 5 times of Missils or scud test have impacted to the sea of Japan and a few times of non test ones have impacted yellow sea which related that A South Korean naval vessel, the ROKS Cheonan, was allegedly sunk by a North Korean torpedo near Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea. A rescue operation recovered 58 survivors but 46 sailors were killed in March 26, 2010 and same year, November 23, 2010: North Korea fired artillery at South Korea's Big Yeonpyeong island in the Yellow Sea and South Korea returned fire. Two South Korean marines and two South Korean civilians were killed, six were seriously wounded, and ten were treated for minor injuries. Approximately seventy South Korean houses were destroyed. and resent missile test impacted at sea of Yellow in South Korea near Kun san The satellite was launched on 13 April 2012 at 7:39 am KST aboard the Unha-3 carrier rocket from Sohae Satellite Launching Station. The rocket exploded 90 seconds after launch near the end of the firing of the first stage of the rocket. The launch was planned to mark the centenary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the republic.

Yahoo reported that A bristling North Korea said on Apr. 18, 2012: it was ready to retaliate in the face of international condemnation over its failed rocket launch, increasing the likelihood the hermit state will push ahead with a third nuclear test. The following MSNBC news showing that there are countless arms and missiles are show off by their celebration for centenary of the birth of Kim Il-sung parade.

Meanwhile, US and South Korea continue exercise stronger and stronger.......
Korea Exercise Lets Battalion Stretch Its Wings

Sources: Yahoo, News, Youtube, Wikipedia, DOD, and Global security. catch4all.com, Sandra Englund, April 19, 2012

US denounces North Korea over failed rocket launch

Northcom Acknowledges
North Korean Missile Launch, Failure

According to DOD Report: By American Forces Press Service, Cheryl Pellerin, dated, April 12, 2012, North Korea 3rd Rocket Luanch test has failed at 6:309 PM. EDT. see more detail in below:

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2012 – North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command officials acknowledged today that U.S. systems detected and tracked a launch of a North Korean TaepoDong-2 missile at 6:39 p.m. EDT.

The missile was tracked on a southerly launch over the Yellow Sea, according to a statement issued from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.

Initial indications are that the missile’s first stage fell into the sea 102.5 miles west of Seoul, South Korea, the statement says. The other two stages were assessed to have failed and no debris fell on land, it says.

“At no time were the missile or resulting debris a threat,” it says.

“Despite the failure of its attempted missile launch,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement tonight, “North Korea’s provocative action threatens regional security, violates international law and contravenes its own recent commitments.”

The action is not surprising given North Korea’s pattern of aggressive behavior, he added, but any missile activity by North Korea is of concern to the international community.

“The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations, and is fully committed to the security of our allies in the region,” Carney said.

President Barack Obama “has been clear that he is prepared to engage constructively with North Korea,” the press secretary said, adding that the president “has also insisted that North Korea live up to its own commitments, adhere to its international obligations and deal peacefully with its neighbors.”

North Korea will only show strength and find security, Carney added, “by abiding by international law, living up to its obligations, and by working to feed its citizens, to educate its children, and to win the trust of its neighbors.”

A spokesman for the Korean Committee for Space Technology announced March 16 that North Korea would launch a long-range Unha-3 rocket between April 12 and 16.

He said the rocket would carry a North Korean-made Kwangmyongsong-3 polar-orbiting observation satellite to mark the 100th birthday of the late President Kim Il Sung on April 15.

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The virtual video shows the North Korea Rocket Fail - Video Depicts Break-up and Fallout via agi

North Korea's much hyped long-range rocket launch on Friday ended in apparent failure, South Korean officials said, dealing a blow to the prestige of the reclusive and impoverished state that defied international pressure to push ahead with the plan.

North Korea said it wanted the Unha-3 rocket to put a weather satellite into orbit, although critics believed it was designed to enhance the capacity of North Korea to design a ballistic missile deliver a nuclear warhead capable of hitting the continental United States.

According to abc news, A spokesman for the defence ministry in Seoul told journalists that the rocket had broken up and crashed into the sea a few minutes after launch.

Officials from Japan confirmed the mission had failed, while ABC News cited U.S. officials saying it had failed, although there was no immediate indication of where it fell.

The rocket's flight was set to take it over a sea separating the Korean peninsula, with an eventual launch of a third stage of the rocket in seas near the Philippines that would have put the satellite into orbit.

This was North Korea's second consecutive failure to get a satellite into orbit, although it claimed success with a 2009 launch and there was no comment on the launch from North Korea's official media.

The Unha-3 rocket took off from a new launch site on the west coast of North Korea, near the Chinese border.

North Korea had said that its rocket launch aimed to put a satellite called Kwangmyongsong-3 (Shining Star) in orbit as it marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of the regime's founder, Kim Il Sung. But the United States and other countries had denounced the move as an attempt to test the country's ballistic missile capabilities. UN Security Council resolutions forbid Pyongyang to carry out missile or nuclear tests.

Even if President Obama still hoped to find a path back to talks or some kind of engagement with North Korea, his margin to maneuver faces constraints from the presidential campaign -- Republicans who have fiercely denounced his approach seized on the launch to claim it has failed. Predictably, diplomatic overtures with North Korea have failed once more, said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon. It appears North Korea has continued to pursue its efforts to strike the American people.

And the embattled Democratic president's foreign policy plate is piled high with other challenges like deciding the pace and scope of the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan -- central topic of a late-May NATO summit -- and the tense standoff over Iran's suspected nuclear program.

President Obama leaves Friday for a Summit of the Americas in Colombia, but many observers of world affairs will be watching Istanbul, where negotiators from the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany -- the so-called P5+1 -- will sit down for the first time in over a year with officials from Iran. Israel has warned it cannot wait long in the face of what it says is Tehran's efforts to develop the ability to build a nuclear weapon. And Obama has warned that the window for a diplomatic solution is closing, and that he has not ruled out using force.

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North Korea (DPRK) also reported thatK wangmyongsong-3 failed at the Sohae Launching station in Cholsan County, North Phyong yang Province at in April 13, 7:38:55 am on Friday.n The North Korea reporter also described that they are looking into the cause of the failure with scientists, technicians and experts see more detail via youtube:

According to yahoo news, dated April 12, 2012, There is no doubt that this satellite would be launched using ballistic missile technology, Secretary of state, Clinton had said at the State Department just hours before the failed launch.

Secretary of State Clinton also made clear that the moment the rocket left the launchpad, President Obama would drop efforts to engage North Korea and would instead pursue further international sanctions.

Pyongyang has a clear choice: It can pursue peace and reap the benefits of closer ties with the international community, including the United States; or it can continue to face pressure and isolation. If Pyongyang goes forward, we will all be back in the Security Council to take further action, she warned.

And it's regrettable, because as you know, we had worked through an agreement that would have benefitted the North Korean people with the provision of food aid. But in the current atmosphere, we would not be able to go forward with that, and other actions that other countries had been considering would also be on hold, Secretary of state, Clinton said.

North Korea's first orbital space launch attempt occurred on August 31, 1998. That failed launch was performed by a Paektusan rocket. Taepo Dong 1 used a solid motor third stage, a Scud-missile-based second stage, and a Rodong-1 based first stage. Rodong-1 was a North Korean-developed stage thought to be a scale-up of the old Soviet Scud missile. TaepoDong 1 stood 22.5 metres tall, was 1.8 metres in diameter, and weighed about 21 tonnes.

Unha-2 is believed to be a three-stage rocket derived from North Korea's Taepodong-2 ballistic missile - a missile that first flew, unsuccessfully, in 2006. The rocket, believed to have been attempting a suborbital test,[citation needed] failed after only 40 seconds. TaepoDong 2's big new first stage is thought to be powered by four engines, one of which powered the country's earlier Taepo Dong 1 first stage. The four engines may produce 112 tonnes-force (1,100 kN) of liftoff thrust, sufficient to rapidly lift the 78 tonne carrier rocket. According to Japanese reports, the second stage splashed down in the Pacific Ocean approximately 3,200 kilometers from the launch site.

Related links: North Korea Opens Reactor to Foreign Media

At Last, The North Korea handed over
its long-awaited nuclear program declaration

NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR CRISIS
BACK AGAIN
it was not long ago
when the media says

At Last, The North Korea handed over
its long-awaited nuclear program declaration

http://catch4all.com/positive/2008/World/NorthKoreaNuclearDestroyed/NorthKoreaNuclearCrisis3.htm

http://catch4all.com/positive/2009/April/NorthKoreaNuke/

http://catch4all.com/positive/2010/NorthKorea/HumanRights/index3.htm

http://catch4all.com/positive/2009/April/NorthKoreaNuke/index2.htm

North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command officials acknowledged today that U.S. systems detected and tracked a launch of a North Korean TaepoDong-2 missile at 6:39 p.m. EDT.

The missile was tracked on a southerly launch over the Yellow Sea, according to a statement issued from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.

Initial indications are that the missile’s first stage fell into the sea 102.5 miles west of Seoul, South Korea, the statement says. The other two stages were assessed to have failed and no debris fell on land, it says. “At no time were the missile or resulting debris a threat,” it says.

Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Lode Star-3: supposedly for weather forecast purposes, which was launched on April 13, 2012 at 7:39 am KST aboard the Unha-3 carrier rocket from Sohae Satellite Launching Station, to which the rocket apparently exploded some 90 seconds after launch near to the end of the first stage of the rocket.The launch was planned to mark the centenary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the country's founder.

South Korea and Japan also responded North Korea's rocket which they are still in investigation and analyzing what caused fail and will be announced the final decision.

Feb. 29^th, 2012, 241,000 tonsofnutritionaid were going tobe sent to North Korea iftheNorth Korea dismiss the nuclear test which North Korea agreed not to production of enriched uranium, However, The cost of the nuclear test on Unha 3, cost shown 150 million dollars which failed to agreement with U.S.

The Unha or Eunha is a North Korean expendable carrier rocket, which experts say utilises the same delivery system as the Taepodong-2 long-range ballistic missile.

Sources: DOD, ABC news, Yahoo, CNN, Wikipedia, Youtube, space.com, MSNBC,Reuters, and NASA catch4all.com, Sandra Englund, April 13, 2012

Poor weather may Extends Launch through April 16

North Korea has skipped the first day of its five-day window to launch its new Unha-3 rocket, which is carrying what the country says is an Earth-observing satellite. Poor weather may have been a reason, according to press reports. The launch window extends through April 16.

North Korean space officials, who had taken foreign journalists to the launch control center Wednesday and said fueling was under way, did not comment on the timing of the launch beyond saying it would occur in the five-day window.

Poor weather made a Thursday launch unlikely, Philippine disaster management agency chief Benito Ramos said, citing an assessment passed on to him by the Philippine military, which is being briefed by U.S. and Japan counterparts. Wind in particular can scuttle rocket launches.

The United States, Japan, Britain and others say the launch would constitute a provocation and would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions banning North Korea from developing its nuclear and missile programs. Experts say the Unha-3 carrier is similar to the type of rocket that could be used to fire a missile mounted with a nuclear warhead to strike the U.S. or other targets.

North Korea denies that the launch is anything but a peaceful civilian bid to send a satellite into space. The Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite is designed to send back images and data that will be used for weather forecasts and agricultural surveys.

Pyongyang made two previous attempts to launch a satellite, in 1998 and 2009, but the U.S. and other outside observers say there is no evidence that either reached orbit. This week's planned launch came with more fanfare, with Pyongyang inviting a possibly unprecedented crowd of foreign journalists and other guests.

Meanwhile, the year 2012 will see a number of significant events in spaceflight, including the first Commercial Orbital Transportation Services resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the maiden flights of the Vega and Antares rockets, and the manned Shenzhou 9 orbital mission.

The International Space Station (ISS) is a habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. It follows the Salyut, Almaz, Skylab and Mir stations as the ninth space station to be inhabited. The ISS is a modular structure whose first component was launched in 1998. Like many artificial satellites, the station can be seen from Earth with the naked eye. The ISS consists of pressurised modules, external trusses, solar arrays and other components. ISS components have been launched by American Space Shuttles as well as Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets which would take so many years of research and experienced and right place to launch. The following icon shows complicated parts explanation of ISS which is from International Space Station configuration as of May 2011: Source: wikipedia

The following icon shows the North Korea Solar system putting together for Kwangmyongsong-3:which Unha-3 is a North Korean expendable carrier rocket. On April 2012 North Korea intends to launch a satellite called Kwangmyongsong-3 upon Unha-3 missile.

North Korea Kwangmyongsong-3:which Unha-3 is planning to launch between 12 to 16 and launch location is Sohae Satellite Launching Station Sohae Satellite Launching Station also known as Tongch'ang-dong Space Launch Center and Pongdong-riwhich is a rocket launching site in Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, North Korea. The base is located among hills close to the northern border with China. The spaceport was built on the site of the village Pongdong-ri which was displaced during construction. It is the site for the April 2012 launch of North Korean satellite Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 which is being launched to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-Sung. The rocket launch is expected between 12 April and 16 April 2012.

You can see the North Korea's Unha-3 Rocket Launch Planexplanationwhichis Explainedby virtual via space.com (Infographic):

Sources: Yahoo, AP, CNN, CCTV. Wikipedia, Youtube, and spapce.com
catch4all.com, Sandra Englund, April 12, 2012

PYONGYANG (Reuters) - Impoverished North Korea rejected international protests over its planned long-range rocket launch and said on Wednesday that it was injecting fuel as we speak , meaning it could blast off as early as Thursday.

If all goes to plan, the launch, which North Korea's neighbors and the West say is a disguised ballistic missile test, will take a three-stage rocket over a sea separating the Korean peninsula from China before releasing a satellite into orbit when the third stage fires over waters near the Philippines.

Regional powers also worry it could be the prelude to another nuclear test, a pattern the hermit state set in 2009.

We don't really care about the opinions from the outside. This is critical in order to develop our national economy, said Paek Chang-ho, head of the satellite control centre at the Korean Committee of Space Technology.

Once the refueling has been completed, the North Koreans will have to inject chemicals into the rocket which cause corrosion, which means the firing could come on Thursday, at the start of a five-day window announced already by Pyongyang.

Weather conditions on the peninsula also appear to favor a launch on Thursday or Saturday, according to meteorological reports from Japanese television.

The likelihood of a launch (on Thursday) is the greatest, said Francis Yoon, a professor of engineering at South Korea's Yonsei University and an expert on rocket technology.

The launch of the Unha-3 rocket, which North Korea says will merely put a weather satellite into space, breaches U.N. sanctions imposed to prevent Pyongyang from developing a missile that could carry a nuclear warhead.

James Oberg, a former rocket scientist with the U.S. space shuttle mission control who is in North Korea, said the rocket was not a weapon, but 98 percent of a weapon , requiring more technology, although not much.

This is the third long-range rocket test by North Korea. It says its second succeeded in putting a satellite into orbit in 2009, although independent experts say it failed.

The firing coincides with the 100th birthday celebrations of the founder of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, whose young, untested grandson, Kim Jong-un, now rules. Kim Il-sung died in 1994.

At a national conference of the ruling Workers' Party, Kim Jong-un was named first secretary, a new post created to give him the official stature to head the state where his grandfather remains eternal president.

His father was also named party general secretary for eternity at the conference, the North's KCNA news agency said.

Paek, briefing foreign journalists in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, declined to comment on the launch date.

As for the exact timing of the launch, it will be decided by my superiors , Paek said.

South Korea, which remains technically at war with the North after their 1950-53 conflict ended with a truce rather than a peace treaty, warned Pyongyang it would deepen its isolation if it went ahead with the launch.

Security sources in Seoul, citing satellite images, have said that North Korea, which walked out of six-party disarmament talks three years ago, is also preparing a third nuclear test following the launch, something it did in 2009 and a move bound to trigger further condemnation and isolation.

South Korea holds parliamentary elections on Wednesday, although the rocket does not appear to have been a major issue with voters more concerned about job security.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that history pointed to additional provocations from North Korea after the launch, an apparent reference to a nuclear test.

This launch will give credence to the view that North Korean leaders see improved relations with the outside world as a threat to their system, she told cadets at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

And recent history strongly suggests that additional provocations may follow.

She also called on China to do more to ensure regional stability.

China, impoverished North Korea's only major ally, on Wednesday reiterated its pleas for calm and said all sides should make efforts to establish peace in the region.

(Additional reporting by Ju-min Park and Jack Kim in SEOUL and Sui-Lee Wee and Sabrina Mao in Beijing, Writing by Nick Macfie and David Chance)

PYONGYANG (Reuters) - Isolated and impoverished North Korea said on Tuesday it was ready to go ahead with its proposed long-range rocket launch, an announcement that sparked immediate condemnation from South Korea and Russia and a plea from China, its main ally, for calm.

The launch of the Unha-3 rocket, which North Korea says will merely put a weather satellite into space, breaches U.N. sanctions imposed to prevent Pyongyang from developing a missile that could carry a nuclear warhead.

Russia, a former backer of North Korea which has boosted economic ties with Pyongyang, denounced the program.

We consider Pyongyang's decision to conduct a launch of a satellite an example of disregard for U.N. Security Council decisions, state-run news agency RIA quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich as saying.

North Korea defended the launch as a sovereign right.

The weight of our satellite is 100 kg. If it was a weapon, a 100 kg payload wouldn't have much of an effect... Our launching tower is built on an open site, said Ryu Kum-chol, vice director of the space development department of the Korean Central Space Committee.

Ryu said that the rocket assembly would be complete on Tuesday.

The launch is set to take place between Thursday and next Monday around the 100th birthday celebrations of the founder of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, whose grandson, Kim Jong-un, now rules. Kim Il-sung died in 1994.

The launch of the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite is the gift from our people to our great leader, comrade Kim Il-sung, on the occasion of his 100th birthday, so this cannot be a missile test, Ryu added.

The West says the launch is a disguised ballistic missile test by a country which walked out of so-called six-party disarmament talks three years ago.

NUCLEAR TEST ALSO PLANNED, SAYS SOUTH

South Korea, which remains technically at war with the North after their 1950-53 conflict ended with a truce rather than a treaty, warned Pyongyang it would deepen its isolation if it went ahead with the launch.

Security sources in Seoul, citing satellite images, have said that North Korea is also preparing a third nuclear test following the rocket launch, something it did in 2009, a move bound to trigger further condemnation from the West.

It is disappointing that the North is forcing its people to endure sacrifices with this provocative action and is bringing isolation and sanctions to itself from the international community, the South's Unification Ministry said in a statement.

The rocket will bisect a sea that separates South Korea and China and its flight path will take it towards the Philippines where a second stage of the rocket is due to come down in waters close to the archipelago.

China, which backs North Korea economically and diplomatically, reiterated its pleas for calm and said it had repeatedly expressed its concern and anxiety about the developments, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a press briefing in Beijing.

The prospect of a North Korean rocket launch has alarmed Japan, which was overflown by an earlier rocket and said it would shoot it down if it crossed its airspace.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said in Tokyo he would discuss North Korea with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

I think a message needs to go to the North Koreans, he told reporters. You have a new leader, there's an opportunity to take a new path. This is a country incapable even of feeding its own people, that needs to change its approach.

Airlines, including South Korea's Korean Air Lines, Philippine Airlines and Cebu Air Inc, have re-routed flights to avoid the rocket's path.

News that the launch would proceed on time hit South Korea's currency, the won, which eased a little, but the stock market had already closed.

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and Sabrina Mao in BEIJING, Kaori Kaneko and Mohammed Abbas in TOKYO and Manny Mogato in MANILA; Writing by David Chance; Editing by Nick Macfie.)

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North Korean Earth observation satellite: the North Korea calls that Kwangmyongsong-3 which meaning Bright Star-3 or Lode Star-3 supposedly for weather forecast purposes, scheduled for launch between April 12–16, 2012 aboard the Unha carrier rocket. The launch is planned to mark the centenary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the country's founder.

On March 16, 2012, the Korean Central News Agency reported that the Korean Committee for Space Technology has announced that Kwangmyongsong-3 is to be launched to mark the centenary of Kim Il Sung's birth and the launch details was also announced. In the same announcement it was said that the launch will be made southwards and debris generated from the flight will not impact neighboring countries. On March 17 the North Korean authorities announced it invites foreign experts and journalists to observe a satellite 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 North's official 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 satellite will broadcast remote data in the UHF band and video in the X-band.

In the same announcement it was said that the launch will be made southwards and debris generated from the flight will not impact neighboring countries. On March 17 the North Korean authorities announced it invites foreign experts and journalists to observe a satellite 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 North's official 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 satellite will broadcast remote data in the UHF band and video in the X-band.

A few days later an article released by the Korean Central News Agency stressed that the peaceful development and use of space is a universally recognized legitimate right of a sovereign state. The satellite launch for scientific researches into the peaceful development and use of space and economic development can by no means be a monopoly of specified countries .

However on a contrary to looking back the Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. The Rockets was one of the tactic plan during the Vietnam war.

Between March 1965 and November 1968, Rolling Thunder deluged the north with a million tons of missiles, rockets and bombs which would make cautious to see the following youtube showing the North Korean commander threatens Seoul. A North Korean military commander threatens to turn Seoul into sea of flames . CNN's Paula Hancocks reports.

Is this warning from North Korea? Or is North Korea trying to saying something to South Koreaorto....??? North Korea's first official communication with the outside world following the death of leader Kim Jong-il was a somber warning to South Korea and its allies that it would not change policies see more detail via youtube North Korea report via youtube:

Here is another footage for closer look which is via youtube BBC: North Korea threatens to turn South Korean capital Seoul into 'sea of flames' North Korean state television has broadcast new footage of military exercises on the country's west coast as a commander threatens to turn the South Korean capital into a sea of flames .

At the end of March North Korea announced it will invite foreign specialists and journalists to watch preparations for the planned launch of its telecommunications satellite and that the guests will be shown both the satellite and the carrier rocket at the launch pad. Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) was officially invited to the launch On March 21 by the North Korean Embassy to Russia but Roscosmos's spokeman said Russia refuses to dispatch its experts to the launch because it violates the UN Security Council resolution. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency had rejected the invitation to send observers to the rocket launch. Government spokesman Osamu Fujimura said It is inappropriate that any Japanese officials participate in observing the launch .

Last month U.S. President Obama and South Korea President Lee Myong Bak addressed their concerns and discussed with world leaders about this critical situation:

Sources: Yahoo, AP, CNN, UN, Al Jazeera,RT WhiteHouse, Wikipedia, and Youtube
catch4all.com, Sandra Englund, April 10, 2012

Sources: Yahoo, AP, fox, UN, Al Jazeera,RT WhiteHouse, Wikipedia, and Youtube
catch4all.com, Sandra Englund, April 9, 2012

Sources: Yahoo, AP, Fox, UN, Al Jazeera, WhiteHouse, Wikipedia, and Youtube
catch4all.com, Sandra Englund, April 9, 2012