Military on Full Alert Over NK Rocket Launch

As North Korea's planned rocket launch could occur today at the earliest, the government is looking into possible countermeasures. President Lee Myung-bak plans to convene the National Security Council (NSC) right after the launch, while the Ministry of Unification in charge of inter-Korean affairs said Friday it had advised civic group members to refrain from visiting the North.

``North Korea seems to have almost finished fueling the rocket, so it is highly likely it will launch it,'' a government official said on condition of anonymity. ``Ministries dealing with foreign affairs and security are on alert to cope with the launch.''

The Korean Meteorological Agency (KMA) has forecast that it will be cloudy over the North's Musudan-ri missile base on the east coast over the weekend, but intelligence authorities said this would not affect the launch. U.S. officials also say the rocket launch could be imminent.

``They're doing everything consistent with the launch of a space vehicle on April 4,'' an unidentified defense official was quoted as saying by Reuters. Pyongyang told international aviation organizations late last month that it will place a ``satellite'' in orbit between April 4 and 8, as part of its space program.