Don't launch that at me bro!

North Korea may be getting trigger happy. Satellite imagery indicates that the North Koreans have loaded a missile on a launch pad and may be ready to launch the missile between April 4-8th. The N. Koreans indicate that the missile is simply a communications satellite. A spokesperson for the Korean People's Army General Staff Department said on 9 March: "Shooting down our satellite, which is for peaceful purposes, will precisely mean a war." He added that Pyongyang would launch "without hesitation a just retaliatory strike operation" if its missile or space launch vehicle (SLV) is targeted.

The declaration followed three weeks of escalating rhetoric over North Korea's forthcoming launch of the Kwangmyongsong 2 satellite aboard an Unha 2 SLV. Jane's revealed in February that preparations for the launch of an SLV or a ballistic missile from the Musudan-ni facility were well advanced.

On 24 February, Pyongyang's Space Technology Committee said it was preparing to launch a communications satellite, the Kwangmyongsong 2, and not a Taepodong 2 ballistic missile, as had been feared.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday warned North Korea that firing a missile for any purpose would be a "provocative act" that would have consequences.

Clinton told reporters during a visit to Mexico City that the U.S. believes the North Korean plan to fire a missile for any purpose would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution barring the country from ballistic activity. She linked a missile launch to the future of talks between the U.S., North Korea and four other nations aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

"We have made it very clear that the North Koreans pursue this pathway at a cost and with consequences to the six-party talks, which we would like to see revived," Clinton said. "We intend to raise this violation of the Security Council resolution, if it goes forward, in the U.N.," she said. "This provocative action in violation of the U.N. mandate will not go unnoticed and there will be consequences."

National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said earlier this month that all indications suggest North Korea will in fact launch a satellite. However, North Korea faked a satellite launch in 1998 to cloak a missile development test.

In 2006, North Korea launched a Taepodong-2 that blew up less than a minute into flight.

Recent decisions by the Penagton to deploy the two US Navy destroyers - USS McCain and USS Chafee - from the Port of Saesbo in Southwestern Japan indicate that the Pentagon intends to shoot down the missile after it is launched.

This should be an interesting show.