N. Korea military warns of retaliatory strike if rocket intercepted+

BEIJING, April 2 Kyodo - North Korea's military warned Japan, South Korea and the United States on Thursday that it would retaliate by force against any attempt to intercept a rocket that the country plans to launch as early as this weekend.

Singling out Japan, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army said in a
statement carried by official media that the army would deal ''deadly blows''
to units that try to shoot down the rocket, which Pyongyang says is for putting
a satellite into orbit.
''If Japan recklessly 'intercepts' the DPRK's satellite for peaceful purposes,
the KPA will mercilessly deal deadly blows not only at the already deployed
intercepting means but at major targets,'' said the statement carried by the
Korean Central News Agency.
DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea.
Concerned that rocket or its debris may fall onto Japan, Japan has installed
Patriot guided-missile units at its northeastern bases and dispatched
destroyers to the Sea of Japan to track the rocket and possibly intercept it if
it appears to threaten the country's airspace, waters or soil.
North Korea has said it will launch the rocket between Saturday and Wednesday.
Japan, South Korea and the United States see this as a disguised attempt to
test-fire a long-range ballistic missile.
On the United States, the North Korean statement said it ''should immediately
withdraw its already deployed armed forces if it does not wish to be hurt.''
South Korea, meanwhile, ''should refrain from disturbing the said launch, the
pride of the nation,'' it said.
North Korea's warning follows a similar threat of a counterstrike which was
also made through the KCNA last month.