China, under new leadership, is North Korea's only major political backer and has continually urged peace on the Korean peninsula, where the North and South remain technically at war after an armistice, rather than a peace treaty, ended the 1950-53 conflict. No comment on the planned launch was immediately available from Beijing's foreign ministry.
Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement that the move was a "grave provocation". Japan's Kyodo news agency said Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda had ordered ministries to be on alert for the launch. "North Korea wants to tell China that it is an independent state by staging the rocket launch and it wants to see if the United States will drop its hostile policies," said Chang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace Affairs at Seoul National University.
North Korea is banned from conducting missile or nuclear-related activities under United Nations resolutions imposed after Pyongyang carried out nuclear tests, although it says its rockets are used to put satellites into orbit for peaceful purposes. Washington and Seoul believe the isolated, impoverished state is testing long-range missile technology with the aim of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Pyongyang's threats are aimed, in part, at winning concessions and aid from Washington, analysts say.
The failed April rocket launch took place to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung and the latest test will take place close to the December 17 date of the death of former leader Kim Jong-il. It will also come as South Korea gears up for a December 19 presidential election in a vote that pits a supporter of closer engagement with Pyongyang against the daughter of South Korean dictator Park Chung-hee.
The April test was condemned by the United Nations, although taking action against the North is hard as China refuses to endorse further sanctions against Pyongyang. North Korea is already one of the most heavily sanctioned states on earth thanks to its nuclear programme. Pyongyang has few tools to pressure the outside world to take it seriously due to its diplomatic isolation and its puny economy.