Yes, North Korea is NOT in the US and is subject to a UN use of force declaration (Passed during the Korean War, while the USSR by boycotting the UN, something the USSR never did afterward). A true was entered into in 1953 thus the use of FORCE is NOT permitted unless it is in self defense.

Now, Korea is located north of the Equator and as such the quickest way to get into space is be sending any rocket westward, in the case of Korea over Japan. If the missile enters "Space" before it flys over Japan, then it is legal for since the 1960s it has been international law that Space is NOT subject to the jurisdiction of any country. The real issue is when does "Space" begin:

Thus space can begin at :

1. 19 miles (30 KM), the point where balloons can go no higher

2. 50 miles, (80 KM), the US definition for astronaut (Notice NOT a definition for Space, but just for who can call oneself an "astronaut" thus more to do with military status then international law).

3. 62 miles (100 KM), the so call "Karman Line"

4. 99 Miles (160 KM), the lowest one can have a stable flight (Short term only, must fly higher for any long term stability).

The Saturn V Rocket of the Apollos missions took 11 minutes to get to 100 miles, thus 11 minutes to get into what everyone considers "Outer Space". It took Apollo Saturn Rockets to reach orbit after going 1100 to 1500 miles (Apollo 7 did it is 1100 miles but on a Saturn 1B mass 1.3 Million pounds NOT the much larger Saturn V Rocket, at 6.5 Million pounds):

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_18-21_Earth_Orbit_Data.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_IB

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V

From Korea to Japan over the Sea of Japan is about 1000 KM (About 620 miles), should be enough area to get a rocket into space (The distance from South Korea to Japan is much shorter, but any Rocket will go over the Sea of Japan). The Saturn V was a largest rocket ever produced and its range over land would have been the highest ever. Thus while it took Saturn V 1500 mile to reach 100 miles above the earth, smaller rockets should be able to do so in the 620 miles width of the Sea of Japan and the 1500 mile range was to the 100 mile attitude, what everyone accepts as "Outer Space".

The key is how far on the earth surface the Rocket will travel before it flys over Japan? If it takes more then 1000 KM to get into what Japan calls "Space" then it is violating Japanese Air Space. On the other hand if the rocket gets over Japan above all of the above limits, then it is in outer space and Japan has no grounds to complain. Previous Rocket launches by North Korea has been of short range rockets into the Sea of Japan.

Japan has positioned Patriot Anti Missiles Missiles in Tokyo in case this is a failure (North Korea has had several failures in rocket launches).

http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/news/a19210/japan-deploys-patriot-missiles-in-downtown-tokyo/

http://wwlp.com/2016/01/30/patriot-missiles-installed-in-central-tokyo/

Shooting down a falling object over one's own territory is legal under international law, but shooting it down as it is climbing is another situation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Japan

Thus unless Japan says the Rocket violated its Air Space by flying to low, Japan has no legal reason to shoot down this rocket. Thus to call for a shoot down is a call to violate international law without good cause and no country is going to do that (on the other hand if the Rocket fails and falls within what Japan considers Japan Air Space, then it is a legitimate target).

As to this being a ballistic Missile, till the Space Shuttle, NASA (except for the Apollo program) used NOTHING BUT BALLISTIC MISSILES to launch its satellites and man missions. The Mercury Missions used Red-stone and later Atlas Missiles, the Gemini program used Titan II missiles, all originally designed as ballistics missiles. Given the weight of Hydrogen bombs, taking a man into orbit was easy, for the man and Oxygen to keep him alive was lighter. The biggest factor was reentry and that delayed most space missions and even the use of ballistics missiles until a way was found to protect them during reentry. Once the problems of reentry was solved, the use of ballistics missiles came into widespread use along with man space flight (digital transmission of data from spy Satellites till the 1980 was NOT possible so film was used, which had to be recovered via reentry of the film canister, this was the same technology as needed by ballistics missiles and manned rockets. With the arrived of very high quality digital transmission in the 1980s, data transmissions of the photos became the norm and the need for reentry disappeared, but prior to that reentry was an essential part of even a spy satellite).

I being this up for whatever missile is capable of putting into space a camera that can take photo on the ground, the lens itself is massive, and can be again the size of a man. You can use digital enhancement of photos, if the photos themselves have the required level of data points to enhance, but to have photos with the required data points requires a good and massive lens, which are large and "Heavy" for rockets. Thus a rocket that can launch a photo Satellite or most other satellites can also launch an atomic or hydrogen bomb.

Thus the claim that this rocket, if successful, shows Korea can Launch and land an atomic weapon anywhere in the world, but so can Japan, Israel, Iran, and the Ukraine, all of whom have launched Satellites into space (Ukraine from Russia in 1992 when they were on more friendly terms) in addition to the declared nuclear powers of the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and India. Just because you can does not mean you will or even want to for that is a different question all together.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_first_orbital_launches_by_country

Call it protecting an ally and move on. Or some other reason. If it is a real threat, then finding the legal justification is a matter of semantics.

The United Nations Security Council has adopted four major resolutions since 2006 that impose and strengthen sanctions on North Korea for continuing to develop its nuclear weapons program and call on Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear program “in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner" and refrain from ballistic missile tests.

https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/UN-Security-Council-Resolutions-on-North-Korea

Under the UN Treaty any use of FORCE must be approved by the Security Council. Yes, that was NOT done as to Iraq and NOT done as to Libya but it is still the law (and unlike Iraq and Libya, China is right next door to North Korea). Thus the Sanctions are valid but the use of force is not (Force MAY be used to enforce the Sanctions, but the Sanctions do NOT preclude actual launching of any missiles at anything from North Korea)

Four Resolutions have passed the the UN, here are the critical parts of each one:.

Resolution 1718:

In 2009 Resolution 1874 was added with the following restrictions:



In 2013 Resolution 2087 was passed adding a list of businesses that are banned and people banned from leaving Korea.

http://www.un.org/press/en/2013/sc10891.doc.htm

Resolution 2094 added more names to the ban lists and added a ban on any financial agency dealing with North Korea OR permitting North Korea business to do business in any other nation.

http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_res_2094.pdf

NOTICE NO AUTHORIZATION TO USE FORCE.

List of UN resolutions on North Korea:

http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/un-documents/dprk-north-korea/

UN Security Council reports from 2008 onward on North Korea:

http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/dprk-north-korea/

That is one FU country.