Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said today that Japan is still on alert over a planned rocket launch by North Korea, although Pyongyang has suggested it may postpone it.
"The government has not yet confirmed the postponement," Noda said on a Fuji Television Network Inc. program. "We will take all possible measures" against the expected launch, he added.
The government set up a countermeasures office at the crisis management center of the prime minister's office at 1 pm Sunday to prepare for the expected launch sometime between Dec 10 and 22, Kyodo news reported.
His comments came after North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency quoted an unidentified spokesman for the Korean Committee of Space Technology as saying, "Our scientists and technicians...are now seriously examining the issue of readjusting the launching time of the satellite for some reasons."
The North's last rocket launch, in April, ended in failure with the carrier flying for just over two minutes before breaking up and falling into the Yellow Sea.
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