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NKorea seen pushing ahead with long-range missile test
Seoul (AFP) June 1, 2009 An unrepentant North Korea appears to be pushing ahead with preparations to test-fire another long-range missile, defying global condemnation of its nuclear test, officials here said Monday. The secretive communist state was also said to be stepping up military drills near the border with the South, which is on heightened alert for a possible repeat of the deadly naval clashes seen in 1999 and 2002. Pyongyang has warned it would take "additional self-defence measures" in response to any tougher international sanctions and South Korea said Monday that a long-range missile launch appeared possible. "We have detected signs that North Korea is preparing to fire an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile)," a defence ministry spokesman told AFP. "US and South Korean intelligence authorities are still analysing the information," he said. The North has moved the missile to a base in Dongchang-ri along its northwestern coast and a launch could take place in one or two weeks, South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed intelligence official as saying. The North has another site at eastern Musudan-ri, from where it fired a long-range Taepodong-2 rocket over Japan in April. It said it put a satellite in orbit but other nations saw the launch as a disguised missile test. US defence officials have also reported vehicle activity that suggests the North may be preparing to launch a long-range missile. "We have seen some signs that they may be doing something with another Taepodong missile but at this point it's not clear what they're going to do," US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told reporters in Manila on Monday. Tensions have been running high for the past week after Kim Jong-Il's regime tested a nuclear bomb for the second time and then launched a series of short-range missiles and threatened possible attacks on South Korea. South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak warned Monday that Seoul would "never tolerate" the North taking a "path of military threats and provocation." "We sincerely hope for peace, but will sternly deal with any threats," he said in a regular radio address, urging the North to renounce nuclear weapons and join the international community. Diplomats at the United Nations Security Council are discussing a new resolution which could impose fresh sanctions on the North to punish it for its latest nuclear test -- its second in three years. But Pyongyang remained defiant, vowing to bolster its nuclear programme. The North "will further strengthen its nuclear deterrent in order to safeguard its ideology and system," the official KCNA news agency said in a commentary Monday. South Korean and US forces on the peninsula are on heightened alert after the North warned of a possible attack in response to Seoul's decision to join a US-led initiative to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction. "North Korean troops have been conducting more drills, especially along the west coast," a South Korean defence ministry spokesman told AFP. North Korea has banned ships from sailing in waters off the northwest coast until the end of July, according to South Korean media reports. The growing security threat cast a shadow over a major summit bringing together the leaders of South Korea and Southeast Asian nations on the southern resort island of Jeju. Seoul has imposed tight security for the June 1-2 meetings, with a surface-to-air missile unit set up next to the convention centre along with checkpoints on major roads and explosives-sniffing dogs. The leaders will describe the North's nuclear test as a threat to regional peace, Lee's office said. Lee and his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will describe the test as "a provocative act" in violation of UN resolutions and agreements at six-party nuclear disarmament talks, it said. Pyongyang walked out of the six-nation negotiations after the Security Council condemned its April 5 rocket launch and tightened existing sanctions. The United States has stressed it will not accept the North as a nuclear-armed state and warned that more atomic tests could spark an arms race in East Asia. The United States has sent Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and North Korea envoy Stephen Bosworth to consult other partners in the six-nation talks. Both are currently in Japan, which is part of the six-party forum. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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