SEOUL, Feb. 12 -- North Korea said Tuesday that it will continue to launch long-range rockets along with the pursuit of "all-out action of high intensity" to ensure its own security. The message carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) was reached at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the ruling Workers' Party Central Committee that was held Monday."The bureau stressed the need to continue launching satellites of the Kwangmyongsong series and powerful long-range rockets," the news outlet said in a lengthy report monitored in Seoul.
Pyongyang launched the three-stage Unha-3 rocket in late December, which is estimated to have a range of roughly 13,000 kilometers. The launch was the second undertaken last year and the fifth overall since 1998.
The KCNA report added that there is a need to "stage an all-out action of high intensity for reliably protecting the security and sovereignty of the country," citing a grave security situation on the 65th anniversary of the founding of the communist nation. It said the (North) Korean People's Army (KPA) must keep itself fully ready for combat and maximize its preparedness.
"Once an order is issued, the KPA should blow up the stronghold of aggression at a strike and wipe out the brigandish U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet army, and thus accomplish the historic cause of national unification," it said in an English dispatch.