The United States maintains that the self-described satellite launch would violate U.N.Security Council Resolution 1718, which bans North Korean nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests, and was approved after Pyongyang's 2006 nuclear test.

VOA: standard.2009.03.12

From Tokyo,Secretary Gates will travel to Seoul, where Geoff Morrell says he will try to further reassure officials of the U.S.commitment to South Korea's security, in the wake the latest short-range missile tests by North Korea earlier this month.

VOA: standard.2009.10.18

South Korea warns any long-range launch by the North will be a violation of a U.N.resolution passed in 2006, when North Korea conducted long-range missile and nuclear weapons tests within months of each other.

VOA: standard.2009.03.12

On Sunday, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon also asked the North to refrain from further missile tests.

WSJ: North Korea Fires Another Missile Sunday

South Korea suspended its humanitarian aid in response to missile tests by North Korea last July.

ECONOMIST: North Korea's nuclear programme

The July missile tests were scarcely mentioned during the ASEAN Regional Forum in Brunei earlier this month.

CNN: T WAS SUPPOSED TO