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S. Korea pushes U.N. penalties for North

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's president sought yesterday to galvanize support from world leaders to pursue U.N. Security Council punishment for North Korea if it proceeds with a rocket launch that is suspected to be a cover for a missile test.

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's president sought yesterday to galvanize support from world leaders to pursue U.N. Security Council punishment for North Korea if it proceeds with a rocket launch that is suspected to be a cover for a missile test.

In one-on-one meetings in London on the eve of the G-20 summit, President Lee Myung Bak stressed the need for a "united response" among world leaders after Pyongyang carries out what it has said will be a satellite launch some time from Saturday to next Wednesday.

The United States, South Korea, and Japan believe the reclusive country is really testing its long-range missile technology. They warn that Pyongyang would face sanctions under a Security Council resolution that bans the country from any ballistic activity.

North Korea has refused to back down and issued warnings of its own, telling the United States that it will shoot down any spy planes that intrude into its territory and threatening Japan that any effort to intervene in the launch would be considered an act of war.

"If the brigandish U.S. imperialists dare to infiltrate spy planes into our airspace to interfere with our peaceful satellite launch preparations, our revolutionary armed forces will mercilessly shoot them down," South Korea's Unification Ministry quoted North Korean radio as saying.

It is unclear what capability the North Korea has to shoot down high-flying Boeing RC-135s, which can reach altitudes of nearly 10 miles.

U.S. military officials in Seoul declined to comment on the spying allegations or the North's threat.

Lee and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, meanwhile, reaffirmed their intention to take North Korea to the Security Council after the launch.

"A launch by North Korea would be a clear violation of a U.N. resolution," Aso told Lee, according to Osamu Sakashita, Aso's deputy cabinet secretary for public relations.