North Korea hints at possible rocket launch

North Korea hinted Monday at a possible satellite launch, fuelling speculation that it might attempt to fire a long-range rocket to coincide with a key political anniversary next month. Any such launch would invite fresh international sanctions and jeopardise a reunion being organised with South Korea of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War.
The North insists its rocket launches are intended to put peaceful satellites into orbit, while the US and its allies see them as disguised ballistic missile tests. Space development is a sovereign right that North Korea intends to exercise "no matter what others might say about it," he added.