The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 3/31/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Lee Jin-man South Korean protesters burn a North Korean flag with pictures of North leader Kim Jong Il and mock missiles during a rally against North Korea's planned launch of a rocket near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Monday. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said South Korea opposes any military response to North's planned rocket launch, while U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. won't try to shoot it down.

SEOUL, South Korea - 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 a communications satellite into orbit between April 4 and 8. The U.S., South Korea and Japan suspect the regime is using the launch to test long-range missile technology, and warn 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 talks on its nuclear disarmament if punished with sanctions. The communist regime's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, 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 country.

North Korea assured Seoul it would guarantee the man's safety during an investigation, according to the South Korean Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North.

The detention came as two American journalists working for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture remained in North Korean custody after allegedly crossing the border illegally from China on March 17.

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