South Korea condemns North's plans to launch rocket as 'grave provocation' The officials have also concluded that the scheduled satellite launch is a violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874, adopted in June 2009, which bans the North from developing ballistic missile technology. The resolution was reached three months after Pyongyang carried out an underground nuclear test. Japan has announced that it is preparing countermeasures against the launch in case the rocket comes close to Japanese airspace. "We are currently doing a mental exercise in preparation, using the previous incident as our guide," Naoki Tanaka, the Japanese defence minister, told local media. In 2009, Japan deployed three Aegis destroyers equipped with the Standard Missile-3 interceptor system in the Sea of Japan. Early-warning aircraft were also airborne and Patriot missile interceptor systems were stationed at air bases north of Tokyo. The Self-Defence Forces were given the order to destroy the rocket if it passed over Japanese territory, although the eventual launch was a flop. North Korea claimed that the satellite was beaming the thoughts of Kim Jong-il around the world from outer space, but the space agencies of other countries could find no evidence that the satellite had reached orbit and concluded that the rocket and its payload embarrassingly fell into the Pacific Ocean.