Warships set sail ahead of N. Korean launch

[Akoto]

Source: Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Japanese, South Korean and U.S. missile-destroying ships set sail to monitor North Korea's imminent rocket launch, as Pyongyang stoked tensions Monday by detaining a South Korean worker for allegedly denouncing the North's political system.

North Korea says it will send up a communications satellite into orbit sometime between April 4 and 8. The U.S., South Korea and Japan suspect the regime is using the launch to test its long-range missile technology, warning it would face U.N. sanctions under a Security Council resolution banning the country from any ballistic activity.

North Korea has threatened to quit international disarmament talks on its nuclear programs if punished with sanctions. The country's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper reiterated that warning Sunday, saying the talks will "completely collapse" if taken to the Security Council.

Further heightening tensions on the divided peninsula, North Korean authorities detained a South Korean worker at a joint industrial zone in the North for allegedly denouncing Pyongyang's political system and inciting female northern workers to flee the communist country.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_NKOREA_MISSILE?SITE=OKOKL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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North Korea seems to have really gone off the deep end recently (and that's saying something). It's like they want to goad a conflict.

[David_NSU]

1. Absolutely, good ole Kim is getting old and senile, who

knows whats gonna happen