WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Russia warns against dramatizing DPRK's satellite launch
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-18 10:18

MOSCOW -- A senior Russian diplomat said on Tuesday that the upcoming launch of a Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) satellite should not be overdramatized.

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"The world community should carefully weigh all circumstances of the satellite launch due in early April and to refrain from fanning panic," Itar-Tass news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry's special envoy Grigory Loginov as saying.

"It is not worth hurrying, but the situation is a no simple one," said Loginov, Russia's ambassador-at-large on the Korean Peninsula issue.

Pyongyang said on Feb. 24 that it plans to launch a communications satellite as part of its peaceful space program. But the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have voiced suspicions that it will be a cover for the test-firing of along-range ballistic missile.