South Korea says North wants rocket for nuclear weapon

South Korea on Monday condemned rival North Korea's planned rocket launch as a "grave provocation", saying it was a disguised attempt to develop a long-range ballistic missile capable of delivering nuclear weapons.   

Seoul also extended a security alert in the capital, and said it was concerned the North might follow the ballistic missile launch with another nuclear test.   

The North announced on Friday it would put a satellite into orbit next month barely two weeks after reaching an agreement with Washington to suspend long-range missile launches as part of a deal to restart food aid.   

"Our government defines North Korea's so-called working satellite launch plan as a grave provocation to develop a long-distance delivery means for nuclear weapons by using ballistic missile technology," presidential spokesman Park Jung-ha said in a statement.   

Washington says the North's long-range ballistic missile program is progressing quickly, and last year said the American mainland could come under threat within five years.   

The secretive North has twice tested a nuclear device, but experts doubt whether it yet has the ability to miniaturize an atomic bomb to place atop a warhead.   

Pyongyang is believed to have enough fissile material to make up to a dozen nuclear bombs, and in 2010 unveiled a uranium enrichment facility to go with its plutonium program which opened a second route to making an atomic weapon.   

On Monday, President Lee Myung-bak met the foreign and security-related ministers to discuss the North's surprise announcement, which also flies in the face of a U.N. Security Council resolution banning long-range missile launches.   

Park said in a statement that Seoul would work closely with the United States, Japan, China and Russia - all members of the six-party forum which deals with the North's nuclear program - during next week's Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul.   

North Korea's weapons of mass destruction program is not on the agenda for the summit, but will be one of the major talking points on the sidelines of the meeting involving some 50 world leaders including Barack Obama and Hu Jintao.

Reuters