The unification ministry says it will take corresponding measures should North Korea launch its military reconnaissance satellite in a move that would violate UN Security Council resolutions.

The ministry revealed the stance in material submitted to the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Wednesday as it stressed that the North must immediately scrap plans to launch the satellite.

Also on Wednesday, the ministry said a group of North Korean defectors who crossed the de facto maritime border on a fishing boat earlier this month are set to soon enter the Settlement Support Center for North Korean Refugees, widely known as Hanawon.

The ministry said it confirmed that all of them want to defect on their free will.

The ministry added that North Korea’s trade with China reached 690 million U.S. dollars in the first four months of the year, equivalent to 91 percent of the trade levels posted in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.