A near two-week launch window for aNorth Korean long-range rocket began Monday, a day after Pyongyang said it maydelay liftoff. North Korea has faced mounting international pressure to abandonwhat critics call a cover for a banned missile test.
North Korean scientists had been pushing forward with finalpreparations for the launch from a west coast site but are considering"readjusting" the timing for unspecified reasons, an unidentifiedspokesman for the Korean Committee for Space Technology said in a dispatchreleased by North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency early Sunday.
It was unclear whether diplomatic intervention or technicalglitches were behind the potential delay. The brief KCNA dispatch saidscientists and technicians were discussing whether to set new launch dates butdid not elaborate.
There were no signs of an imminent launch Monday, and NorthKorea's state media has yet to follow up on Sunday's announcement.
North Korea earlier said it would launch a three-stagerocket mounted with a satellite from the Sohae station on its northwest coastsometime between Monday and Dec. 22. Pyongyang calls it a peaceful bid to sendan observation satellite into space, its second attempt this year. An Aprillaunch failed seconds after liftoff.
Word of a possible delay came just days after satellitephotos indicated that snow may have slowed launch preparations, and asofficials in Washington, Seoul, Tokyo, Moscow and elsewhere urged North Koreato cancel a liftoff widely seen as a violation of bans against missile andnuclear activity because the rocket shares the same technology used for firinga long-range missile.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Monday that his governmentwill maintain vigilance. Japan's military has been ordered to intercept a NorthKorean rocket if it falls on Japanese territory.
"At this moment, we are keeping our guard up,"Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto told reporters. "We have not seen anyobjective indication that would cause us to make any change to ourpreparedness."
Commercial satellite imagery taken by GeoEye on Dec. 4 andshared Friday with The Associated Press by the 38 North and North Korea Techwebsites showed the Sohae site northwest of Pyongyang covered with snow. Theroad from the main assembly building to the launch pad showed no fresh tracks,indicating that the snowfall may have stalled the preparations.
However, analysts believed rocket preparations would havebeen completed on time for liftoff as early as Monday.
Some South Korean media, citing unidentified governmentsources in Seoul, speculated Monday that North Korea was facing unspecifiedtechnical problems. The Korean Peninsula has seen a string of snowstorms and frigiddays.
A rocket can be launched during a snowfall, but lightning,strong wind and freezing temperatures could stall a liftoff, said LeeChang-jin, an aerospace professor at Seoul's Konkuk University.
The launch announcement captured global headlines because ofits timing: South Korea and Japan hold key elections this month, PresidentBarack Obama begins his second term next month and China has just formed a newleadership. North Koreans also have begun a mourning period for late leader KimJong Il, who died on Dec. 17, 2011.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clintonsaid Washington was deeply concerned about the launch, and urged foreignministers from NATO and Russia to demand that Pyongyang cancel its plans.
North Korea has unveiled missiles designed to target U.S.soil and has tested two atomic bombs in recent years, but has not shown yetthat it has mastered the technology for mounting a nuclear warhead to along-range missile. Six-nation negotiations to offer North Korea much-neededaid in exchange for nuclear disarmament have been stalled since early 2009.
China, the North's main ally and aid provider, noted itsconcern after North Korea declared its latest launch plans. It acknowledgedNorth Korea's right to develop its space program but said that had to beharmonized with restrictions including those set by the U.N. Security Council.
In Seoul, officials at the Defense Ministry, Joint Chiefs ofStaff and the Foreign Ministry said they couldn't immediately determine whatmight be behind the possible delay.
North Korea may hold off if Washington actively engagesPyongyang in dialogue and promises to ship stalled food assistance to thecountry, said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean studies at Seoul'sDongguk University.
In February, Washington agreed to provide 240,000 metrictons of food aid to North Korea in exchange for a freeze in nuclear and missileactivities. The deal collapsed after North Korea attempted its April launch.
Analyst Baek Seung-joo of the South Korean state-run KoreaInstitute for Defense Analyses in Seoul said China must have sent a "verystrong" message calling for the North to cancel the launch plans.
A successful launch means North Korea could develop an intercontinentalballistic missile capable of striking the U.S. mainland within two to threeyears, though the country would need many more years to acquire the technologyto arm the missile with a nuclear warhead, said Chong Chol-Ho, a weapons ofmass destruction expert at the private Sejong Institute near Seoul.