N. Korea appears close to testing missile (AP) Updated: 2006-06-19 08:38
North Korea appeared close Sunday to test-firing a long-range missile capable
of reaching the United States, prompting the White House to warn of an
appropriate response and Japan to threaten a "fierce" protest to the United
Nations.
North Korea was silent on the issue but vowed to bolster its "military
deterrent", reported the country's state news agency.
In this satellite
image released by GeoEye, the Taepodong missile launch complex in North
Korea, called Musudan-ri, is shown in 2001. North Korea said Sunday, June
18, 2006, it is seeking to increase its military deterrent to cope with US
moves in a restatement of its typical anti-Washington propaganda, amid
increasing signs that the country is preparing for a missile test.
[AP] |
A test launch of what is believed to be a Taepodong-2 missile would inflame a
region already tense over the North's continuing nuclear weapons program.
"There are signs" of an imminent missile launch, Jung Tae-ho, a spokesman at
the South Korean president's office, told The Associated Press. He added that
security officials were "closely watching the situation."
The North last conducted such a launch in August 1998. Pyongyang imposed a
moratorium on testing long-range missiles in 1999.
The White House spokesman said Sunday the United States expected the North to
abide by that freeze.
"We do not want to have a missile test out of North Korea," Tony Snow told
"Fox News Sunday." "The North Koreans themselves decided in 1999 that they would
place a moratorium on this kind of testing, and we expect them to maintain the
moratorium."
Snow noted that North Korea made a series of commitments in six-nation talks
over its nuclear program in September, including that they would "bargain in
good faith."
"We expect them to come back to the table," Snow said. "And we hope there's
not going to be a launch."
US President Bush, national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice have been in contact with more than a dozen countries and
communicated with North Korea through the UN representative, Snow said.
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