South Korea Warns North Korea Not to Launch Satellite

South Korea warned on Wednesday of “searing” consequences if North Korea doesn’t abandon plans to launch a long-range rocket

A Man watchs a television broadcast reporting the North Korean missile launch at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on March 26, 2014. Chung Sung-jun/Getty Images

SEOUL, South Korea—South Korea warned on Wednesday of “searing” consequences if North Korea doesn’t abandon plans to launch a long-range rocket that critics call a banned test of ballistic missile technology.

The South’s rhetoric about unspecified harsh consequences comes less than a month after North Korea’s defiant fourth nuclear test and as diplomats at the U.N. work on strong new sanctions against the North.

North Korea on Tuesday informed international organizations of its plans to launch an Earth observation satellite on a rocket between Feb. 8 and 25, and if North Korea’s past patterns are any clue, angry warnings by its neighbors and Washington probably won’t dissuade a coming launch.

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