N Korea vows to attack Japan if rocket intercepted

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SEOUL, April 2 (AFP): North Korea's military threatened Thursday to attack "major targets" in Japan if Tokyo tries to shoot down a satellite it intends to launch as soon as this weekend.
"If Japan recklessly 'intercepts' the DPRK's (North's) satellite for peaceful purposes, the KPA will mercilessly deal deadly blows not only at the already deployed intercepting means but at major targets," said a statement from the Korean People's Army (KPA).
The communist state insists that no one has the right to block its plan to launch a communications satellite between April 4-8, as part of what it calls a peaceful space programme.
The United States and its Asian allies say the North, which has staged two previous long-range missile launches, wants a pretext to test a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile which could in theory reach Alaska or Hawaii.
Japan and the United States have deployed missile-hunting Aegis destroyers to monitor the launch. South Korea has reportedly also sent an Aegis warship.
Tokyo has additionally deployed Patriot guided-missile units on land, and says it will try to bring down the rocket should it start falling toward Japanese territory.
The KPA general staff, in a statement on official media, told the United States "to immediately withdraw its already deployed armed forces if it does not wish to be hurt by the above-said strike."
The North has previously warned that any interception will mean war.
Recent satellite photos appear to confirm the North has indeed mounted a satellite atop the missile and not a dummy warhead, US experts say.
South Korea is "actively considering" taking a full part in the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) if the launch goes ahead, a foreign ministry spokesman said.
The initiative aims to halt ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction and related materials.
The North's Minju Joson newspaper said any decision by Seoul to join PSI would amount to a "declaration of war."
Seoul's defence ministry declined comment.
North Korea has said that even a UN discussion of its launch-let alone new sanctions-would trigger the breakdown of international nuclear disarmament talks.
UN resolutions bar Pyongyang from missile-related activities.
However, the North signed on to international space treaties before its launch. Analysts believe China and Russia would block any new sanctions move on the grounds that previous resolutions do not cover satellite launches.
AP adds: North Korea has begun fuelling a long-range rocket for an impending launch, a news report said Thursday, as President Barack Obama warned the liftoff would be a "provocative act" that would generate a UN Security Council response.
North Korea says it will send a communications satellite into orbit on a multistage rocket sometime from Saturday to Wednesday. The US, South Korea and Japan think the reclusive country is using the launch to test long-range missile technology; they've warned the move would violate a Security Council resolution banning the North from ballistic activity.