North Korea lashes out over missile test warnings

North Korea lashed out at critics warning it not to test a long-range missile, saying Thursday that it would punish those trying to disrupt its plan to send what it calls a satellite into orbit.

The latest harsh words from Pyongyang came as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced plans to send her new envoy on North Korea to meet with negotiators in Asia trying to revive stalled nuclear disarmament talks.

North Korea announced earlier this week that it was preparing to shoot a communications satellite into orbit as part of it space program. The U.S., South Korea and other neighboring countries believe the launch may be a cover for a missile test-fire, saying the action would trigger international sanctions.

Experts believe the North has yet to master the technology required to mount a nuclear warhead onto a missile. Nuclear and missile tests in 2006 spurred regional powers to hash out a 2007 pact promising Pyongyang aid and other concessions in exchange for disabling its nuclear program.

After blowing up a cooling reactor last June, the North halted disablement just weeks later. Talks in Beijing in December failed to get the process moving again, with analysts predicting that Pyongyang would wait to see how open Obama was to establishing direct ties.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution in 2006 prohibiting Pyongyang from ballistic activity. South Korea says it would consider either a satellite or missile launch a threat and violation of the UN ban since both use similar rocket delivery systems.

On Thursday, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of (North) Korea accused South Korea of "trumpeting about 'sanctions"' against its satellite launch, saying outsiders will know "what will soar in the air in the days ahead."

"If the puppet warmongers infringe upon our inviolable dignity even a bit ... we will not only punish the provokers but reduce their stronghold to debris," the committee said in a statement carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.

Launch not yet scheduled

Kim Myong Gil, minister to the North's UN mission in New York, also told reporters in Atlanta on Thursday that his country would implement "the satellite launch as scheduled," saying timing of its launch remains to be seen, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. The report said Kim was in Atlanta to take part in an international academic forum.

Analysts say the North's planned launch is seen as a bid for U.S. President Barack Obama's attention as international talks on its nuclear programs remained stalled for months and tensions with South Korea are at their highest level in a decade.

Rodger Baker, director of East Asia analysis at STRATFOR, a global intelligence company, said the launch of the Taepodong-2 will most likely take place around the first week in March, around the time of elections for the North's rubber-stamp parliament.

The long-range Taepodong-2 missile is believed capable of reaching Alaska. Some experts think the North is preparing to test an advanced version that could reach the western continental U.S.

Baker said that North Korea's missile capability was "fairly sophisticated" given the country's isolation and lack of access to technology.

"They are really good with short-range and anti-ship missiles, mostly those they've modified from Soviet and Chinese missiles," Baker said.

Reports of underground facility

Clinton announced Thursday that envoy Stephen Bosworth would soon travel to the capitals of four countries that have been working with Washington to get North Korea to give up its nuclear program Russia, Japan, China and South Korea.

Bosworth, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, was named last week as the Obama administration's special representative for North Korea.

South Korea's Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported Thursday that North Korea has built an underground fueling facility near its launch pad, making it harder for spy satellites to detect signs that a missile is being prepared for launch.

Bosworth said the United States plans to directly engage North Korea, but it is still unclear whether any meetings will happen on this trip.

Christopher Hill, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, later told reporters that Asian and U.S. officials are looking at the best way "to deter this launch." He dismissed North Korea's claims that it was preparing to conduct a satellite launch.

"It looks an awful lot like a missile launch, and the reason it looks a lot like a missile launch is because it essentially is a missile launch, whatever the payload," Hill said. Considering the North's "opaqueness," coupled with its claims that it has weaponized plutonium, he said, "you can see why we have some very deep concerns about the missile launch."