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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that North Korea's preparations to launch a missile are another example of it provocative behavior and Japan would have every right to defend itself."It is an unfortunate and continuing example of provocation by the North Koreans," Clinton told a news briefing at a conference in The Hague, Netherlands."There will be consequences" if North Korea launches a missile, she said, noting possible U.N. Security Council actions. "Japan has every right to protect and defend its territory."Nuclear-armed North Korea warned Japan on Tuesday that intervening in Pyongyang's impending rocket launch would be considered an act of war.North Korea says it will send a communications satellite into orbit on a multi-stage rocket between April 4 and 8. The U.S., South Korea and Japan think the communist regime is using the launch to test long-range missile technology, and they warn Pyongyang would face sanctions under a U.N. Security Council resolution banning the country from ballistic activity.Japan has deployed battleships and Patriot missile interceptors off its northern coast to shoot down any rocket debris that the North has said might fall over the area.Tokyo has said it is only protecting its territory and has no intention of trying to shoot down the rocket itself, but North Korea said it is not convinced and accused Japan of inciting militarism at home to justify developing a nuclear weapons program of its own.If Japan tries to intercept the satellite, the North's army "will consider this as the start of Japan's war of re-invasion more than six decades after the Second World War and mercilessly destroy all its interceptor means and citadels with the most powerful military means," the North's official Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday.China, North Korea's neighbor and often-estranged ally, continued to appeal for all the powers in the region to show restraint and "refrain from any action that would further complicate the situation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters in Beijing.But Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said he is ready to pursue punishment by the Security Council if North Korea fires the rocket, which already is on the launch pad."It would be crucial for the international community to make concerted action," Aso told a news conference after both houses of Japan's parliament passed a resolution strongly urging the North to forego the launch.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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