Room for negotiation

The world community was relieved to hear the Democratic People's Republic of Korea announce on Saturday that it was changing the window for its scheduled satellite launch. But the situation took an abrupt turn on Monday when the country said it will launch the satellite before Dec 29.

It is a pity that an opportunity that would have been conducive to easing the tensions that have built up since Pyongyang revealed its launch plan earlier this month has been lost so soon.

Pyongyang originally planned to launch a new version of the Kwangmyongsong 3 satellite by the Unha 3 carrier rocket between Dec 10 and 22, following a failed attempt in April.