(2nd LD) N. Korean missile launch not imminent: unification minister

SEOUL, March 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea continues preparations to launch what it claims is a satellite, but an actual launch does not seem imminent, Seoul's unification minister said Wednesday.

Hyun In-taek, a hardline foreign policy expert who took office last month as
Seoul's new point man on Pyongyang, also said South Korea is closely working with
Washington to deter what appears to be a North Korean tactic to isolate South
Korea while trying to talk with the United States.
"I don't think the launch is very imminent, but various preparations are
underway," Hyun said in his first meeting with the press since he took office.
A missile launch is only a "hypothetical situation," Hyun said, expressing
reservation about when it would be or whether Seoul will support international
sanctions against North Korea.
"In whatever situation we may be, our government will make every effort to ensure
the safety of our citizens," he said.
North Korea said last month that it is preparing to launch a communications
satellite into orbit, which South Korea and U.S. officials believe could actually
be a test of a long-range missile that in theory could reach the U.S. West Coast.
Pyongyang has not said when it will conduct the launch, but some analysts in
Seoul point to late March or early April, some time after North Korea holds its
long overdue parliamentary elections on Sunday.
Turning to military talks North Korea requested with the U.S.-led United Nations
Command in South Korea this week, the minister acknowledged mounting concerns
about Pyongyang's apparent efforts to improve relations with Washington while
cutting dialogue with Seoul.
The U.N. Command, led by Gen. Walter Sharp, chief of the U.S. forces in South
Korea, oversees the cease-fire along the inter-Korean border, a legacy of the
1950-53 Korean War.
"The governments of South Korea and the U.S. share a deep understanding about
this concern and are closely cooperating on addressing it," Hyun said.
"Even if North Korea continues to try to talk with the U.S. while isolating the
South, it will not be able to succeed," he added.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed that concern during her Seoul
visit late last month, saying the North is "not going to get a different
relationship with the United States while insulting and refusing dialogue with
the Republic of Korea."
Inter-Korean relations have dipped to a record low since President Lee Myung-bak
took office a year ago, toughening up on North Korea's nuclear program and
scrapping his liberal predecessors' policy of providing unconditional aid to the
impoverished state. Pyongyang cut off dialogue with Seoul in response to the
hardline policy.
Hyun suggested there will be no immediate resumption of government-level rice and
fertilizer aid, which was suspended last year for the first time in a decade.
"There should be a certain momentum for the government to resume the aid, but we
will actively support aid operations sought by civic organizations and
international agencies," Hyun said.
The minister demanded North Korea stop its increasingly bitter denunciations of
Lee. Pyongyang rejected Lee's latest offer of dialogue earlier this week as
"disgusting sophism" and called him a "traitor."
"Our government views North Korean denunciations seriously and demands North
Korea immediately suspend them. And we urge North Korea to come forward to the
dialogue table," Hyun said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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