South Korea, neighbors on full alert over North Korea rocket

The South Korean government is on full alert to take quick and effective measures in response to an imminent rocket launch by North Korea, government officials said.

“The government issued guidelines to strengthen office discipline to prevent any damage to South Korean citizens and to take quick measures in case North Korea launches a long-range missile,” a government official said.

A U.S. official said Wednesday in Washington that the foreign ministers of the Group of Eight major economies will issue a formal document on North Korea’s impending ballistic rocket launch.

“We do expect to have a chairman’s statement. It will be released, I would guess, at the end of the meeting tomorrow, late morning,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said at a daily news briefing. more