From The Associated Press:
TOKYO — North Korea declared Tuesday it has a right to carry out long-range missile tests, despite international calls for the communist state to refrain from launching a rocket believed capable of reaching the United States.
The bristling statement from North Korea to Japanese reporters in Pyongyang came as France and the U.N. secretary-general raised the alarm over what are believed to be the reclusive nation’s preparations for a test of the Taepodong-2, with a range of up to 9,300 miles.
The North’s declaration prompted Japan and South Korea to pledge to cooperate to stop Pyongyang’s apparent plans for a launch.
The United States and Japan have said they could consider sanctions against the impoverished state and push the U.N. Security Council for retaliatory action should the launch go ahead. Pyongyang demonstrated its ability to hit Tokyo when it fired a missile over northern Japan into the Pacific in 1998.
“This issue concerns our autonomy. Nobody has a right to slander that right,” the Kyodo News agency quoted North Korean Foreign Ministry official Ri Pyong Dok as telling Japanese reporters.
Ri told reporters his remarks represented Pyongyang’s official line on the matter, but refused to comment on whether the North would push ahead with the missile test, saying it was inappropriate for a diplomat to give further information, Kyodo said.
The harsh rhetoric could sour hopes that North Korea might scuttle the test in the face of international criticism. But it was unclear whether the comments indicated a willingness to go ahead with the launch, or reflected North Korea’s penchant for threatening bluster as a bargaining tactic.
The international campaign to block the launch widened Tuesday, with the French government and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan calling for a halt to test preparations.
“I hope that the leaders of North Korea will listen to and hear what the world is saying. We are all worried,” said Annan, who was in Paris. He called for all parties in the standoff to avoid an escalation of tensions.
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, speaking after talks with Annan, said any North Korean missile test must draw a “firm and just” international response.
China, North Korea’s staunchest ally, urged calm.
What should be done about this situation?
By: sferrin - 25th June 2006 at 02:24
As long as they don’t follow international protocols for testing missiles or launching satellites, shoot it down.
I think they will just watch it and maybe do everything up to the point of actually firing an SM-3 unless NK pulls another stunt like sending it over Japan. If that’d been Israel or the US (or likely just about anybody else with the capability) that launch site would have been a smoking hole. Not necessarily a radioactive one but definitely out of commision.
By: Arabella-Cox - 24th June 2006 at 23:47
They should put a satellite on the top and call it a space launcher. What will the US do then… they are the ones wanting to militarise space anyway.
As long as they don’t follow international protocols for testing missiles or launching satellites, shoot it down.
By: SOC - 21st June 2006 at 07:23
The French will ignore all international pressure when it comes to blowing up nuclear weapons for tests in the Pacific because it was in their security interests to do so, but expect the NK to not launch a rocket for a test that would cause no widespread environmental damage at all.
You know, that is pretty funny 😀
By: Arabella-Cox - 21st June 2006 at 07:15
The international campaign to block the launch widened Tuesday, with the French government and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan calling for a halt to test preparations.
Hahahaha… that is funny. The French will ignore all international pressure when it comes to blowing up nuclear weapons for tests in the Pacific because it was in their security interests to do so, but expect the NK to not launch a rocket for a test that would cause no widespread environmental damage at all.
They should put a satellite on the top and call it a space launcher. What will the US do then… they are the ones wanting to militarise space anyway.
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June 21, 2006 at 4:56 am