N Korea considers postponing rocket launch

North Korea said Sunday it was considering postponing a planned long-range rocket launch originally set for between December 10 and 22. The Korean Committee for Space Technology said its scientists and engineers were "considering seriously the possibility of readjusting the launch period", citing unspecified problems. "We are now in the final stage of preparations for the launch", it said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. "But in the course of the preparations, some problems have arisen, compelling our scientists and engineers to consider seriously the possibility of readjusting the launch period." The committee gave no further details. A US think-tank, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, said on Friday that the preparations for the launch may have been delayed by heavy snow. The United States and its key Asian military allies, South Korea and Japan, insist the launch is a disguised ballistic missile test that violates UN resolutions triggered by Pyongyang's two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.