N. Korean missile more worrisome due to its nuclear capability: minister By Lee Chi-dong

SEOUL, Feb. 18 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's missile program poses a serious threat
to global security especially because it can be used to deliver the communist
nation's nuclear bombs, South Korea's top diplomat said Wednesday.
In a breakfast meeting with foreign envoys here, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan
said "the combination of its long-range missile and nuclear capability will have
a very serious impact to the world's peace and security."
Yu pointed out that the North conducted what he called a "nuclear weapon
explosion test" in October 2006, about three months after test-launching a
long-range Taepodong-2 missile.
If North Korea fires a ballistic missile again, he said, it would violate U.N.
Security Council Resolution 1718 -- adopted after the provocative actions in 2006
-- that prohibits Pyongyang from conducting a missile test.
The minister also hit out at the North's refusal to agree on proposed ways to
verify its nuclear program.
"It means North Korea has no will to denuclearize itself," he said, adding the
issues will be high on the agenda in his talks with U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton on Friday in Seoul.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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