N. Korea calls South 'traitor' for backing U.N. sanctions against rocket launch

SEOUL, March 26 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Thursday blasted Seoul as a "traitor"
for backing U.N. sanctions against its imminent rocket launch, reasserting its
right to launch a satellite.
Intelligence sources said North Korea could be technically ready for the launch
by this weekend, having loaded its rocket onto a launch pad on its east coast.
But Seoul officials believe North Korea will wait until the period it has
notified U.N. aviation and shipping agencies -- some time between 4 and 8.
South Korea, the United States and Japan believe the satellite launch could be
actually cover for a long-range missile test as the technologies involved are
virtually the same. The three countries have warned the rocket launch would be a
breach of a U.N. resolution banning the North from ballistic missile activity.
"The Lee Myung-bak group of traitors is showing themselves in their true color as
confrontational maniacs who spread malicious insults at whatever their brethren
does," said the Minju Joson, a newspaper of the North's Cabinet.
"It is a traitor's behavior that the Lee group clamors for 'resolute measures
through international coordination'" against the rocket launch, it said.
Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesperson Lee Jong-joo on Thursday reaffirmed
South Korea's opposition to the launch, calling the move a "serious threat to the
security of the Korean Peninsula" and a "serious provocation."
hkim@yna.co.kr
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