Seoul Warns of Stern Measures against N. Korean Rocket Launch

South Korea vowed Tuesday to take stern measures if North Korea goes ahead with its planned rocket launch in defiance of international condemnation.

The South's unification ministry, which handles cross-border relations, said the impoverished communist state would face international sanctions and further isolation because of its "provocative act.”

"If North Korea goes ahead with its long-range missile launch, our government will sternly deal with such a provocative act in close coordination with the international community," it said in a statement.

The statement followed a meeting of top security officials including the ministers of defense, foreign affairs and unification.

The South's foreign ministry said the United Nations Security Council would convene to discuss subsequent steps in response to the rocket launch.

"I think North Korea's long-range missile launch will be discussed by the U.N. Security Council certainly because it is a clear violation of its resolutions," spokesman Cho Byung-Jae told reporters.

The poor but nuclear-armed North attracted international condemnation after it announced a plan to launch a satellite sometime from April 12 to 16, to mark the centenary of the birth of late founding president Kim Il-Sung.

Pyongyang insists the launch is a peaceful space project but the United States and South Korea view it as a disguised missile test in breach of UN resolutions.

Earlier in the day, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-Jin and U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta held a telephone conversation to discuss the rocket launch.

They agreed to forge close cooperation against the launch and maintain a strong defense posture, Kim's office said.

"Both ministers shared the view that North Korea's long-range missile launch is a grave provocation," it said in a statement without disclosing what action was envisaged.

South Korea has vowed to shoot down the rocket if it strays into its territory. Japan has said it may do likewise.

The South's military plans to deploy destroyers armed with missiles to the Yellow Sea to track the rocket.

The transport ministry said it would provide up-to-date information to shipping on the rocket launch.

All 15 maritime traffic control centers will be placed on alert from Wednesday, issuing navigation warnings every two hours to protect vessels operating in the Yellow Sea, it said.

The first stage of the rocket is expected to fall in waters 170 kilometers (100 miles) west of Gunsan in the southwest of South Korea, it said.