ROK warns harsh price against DPRK's satellite launch

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea on Wednesday warned a harsh price against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's long-range ballistic missile launch after Pyongyang's notification of its plan to launch a satellite.

"If North Korea (DPRK) pushes ahead with long-range missile launch, it will pose a significant threat to peace and security in the region and the world as well as on the Korean Peninsula," said Cho Tae-Yong, the first deputy chief of the presidential security office.

Cho said that Seoul sternly warns a harsh price, which will come from the international society, against Pyongyang.

The DPRK reportedly informed the International Maritime Organization on Tuesday of its plan to launch a satellite, named Kwangmyongsong, sometime between Feb 8 and 25.

The ROK's presidential national security council held an emergency meeting Wednesday morning to discuss how to deal with the DPRK's missile launch plan, and Cho made an announcement of the country's official stance after the meeting.

Seoul strengthened monitoring of the possible launch of the DPRK's long-range ballistic missile after its claim on Jan 6 that it tested its first H-bomb.

Pyongyang has test-fired long-range missiles months before or after its previous nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

The DPRK launched the three-stage Unha-3 rocket, carrying what it called a Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite, on Dec 2012, two months before its third atomic bomb test. At the time, Seoul and Washington called it the test-launch of long-range ballistic missile, violating the UN Security Council resolutions.