North Korea puts launch in innocuous terms

North Korea announced its intention to launch a ‘communications satellite’, downplaying its suspected plans to test a long-range ballistic missile test despite a U.N. resolution forbidding such activity.  Experts fear an attempt by the U.S. or Japan to destroy the missile in flight could precipitate a regional conflict or a break-down in negotiations.  Daniel Pinkston of Ploughshares-funded International Crisis Group says "All the indications are that [the North Koreans] are likely to go forward with this. I don't think people see how serious the implications are. "