SEOUL: North Korea’s widely-condemned launch of a long-range rocket could happen as early as Sunday, after Pyongyang shortened and brought forward the start of the launch window.

An updated notification sent by Pyongyang to UN agencies on Saturday — a copy of which was released by the South Korean government — said the launch would now take place between Feb 7-14.

The initial window announced by the North on Tuesday had been on February 8-25.

The planned satellite launch has been slammed by the international community as a disguised ballistic missile test that amounts to another serious violation of UN resolutions, following the North’s nuclear test last month.

The brief updated notice sent by Pyongyang offered no reason for the date change.

“The Seoul government believes that (North Korea) completed its launch preparation, such as fuelling the rocket after erecting it on a launch pad after considering various circumstances”, South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted a defence ministry official as saying late on Saturday.

South Korea’s military was on alert and ready to respond, Yonhap reported another ministry official as saying.

Any launch would now take place before the Feb 16 birthday of late leader Kim Jong-Il, the father of current leader Kim Jong-Un.

The North insists its space programme is purely scientific in nature, but the United States and allies, including South Korea, say its rocket launches are aimed at developing an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of striking the US mainland.

UN sanctions prohibit North Korea from any launch using ballistic missile technology.That means the rocket could blast off during the biggest annual US sports event of the year — the Superbowl, which kicks of at 8am on Monday, Pyongyang time.

Predictions of an imminent launch have been bolstered by recent satellite images of fuel tankers at the Sohae satellite launch complex in northwestern North Korea.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2016