Obama expresses concerns over N. Korea's missile program: White House

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, March 12 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Thursday expressed
concerns over North Korea's plans to launch a satellite, with U.S. officials
viewing its imminent launch as a guise for development of a ballistic missile
capable of hitting the mailand U.S.
"The president also highlighted the risks posed by North Korea's missile
program," the White House said in a statement issued at the end of Obama's
meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.
Obama also pledged to continue the six-party talks on ending North Korea's
nuclear ambitions.
"The president expressed appreciation for the important role China has played as
the chair of the six-party talks," the statement said. "He said we will continue
to work with China and other partners in the six-party process to verifiably
eliminate North Korea???s nuclear program."
Obama's remarks on the North Korean missile threat came as U.N. Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon expressed similar concerns.
Earlier in the day, North Korea notified the International Maritime Organization
of its plans to launch an experimental communications satellite into space April
4-8. The notification serves as a warning to encroaching vessels and aircraft.
In London, the IMO circulated a message to its member states to notify them of
the North's plans to fire a Kwangmyongsong II rocket between 2 and 7 a.m. (GMT)
during those dates, adding information on possible landing points for the
boosters in the East Sea, between Korea and Japan, and the Pacific Ocean.
Assuming the launch is successful, the first stage is expected to splash down
into the East Sea and the second into the Pacific.
North Korea has said it will consider any interception of its rocket by the U.S.
or Japan an act of war. A U.S. aircraft carrier group, including an Aegis
destroyer capable of detecting and intercepting ballistic missiles, has been
positioned off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula as part of annual military
drills with South Korea.
Speaking to a news briefing at the U.N. headquarters in New York, Ban said North
Korea's plans to launch a satellite will undermine regional security.
"I'm concerned about the DPRK's recent move to launch a satellite or long-range
missiles," said Ban, who met with Obama in Washington earlier this week to
discuss North Korea and other bilateral and global issues. "This will threaten
the peace and stability in the region." DPRK, the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, is the official name of North Korea.
Ban urged North Korea to "abide by the relevant Security Council resolution and
return to the six-party talks and fully and faithfully implement the agreement of
the six-party talks."
The chief U.N. official would not venture to say if further sanctions will follow
the satellite launch, saying, "That's what Security Council members will discuss
when and after anything happens."
In a related move, U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood repeated a warning
Thursday that North Korea "desist or not carry out this type of provocative act
and sit down with the other members of the six-party talks and work on the
process of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
Wood would not elaborate on a U.S. response to the North's launch of a missile or
satellite.
"In terms of what we may do, I don't want to get ahead of the process," he said.
"But we will certainly have options that we will look at, and we will obviously
consult with our partners on this."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday proposed missile talks with
North Korea while calling for early resumption of the six-party talks on ending
the North's nuclear ambitions.
Clinton at that time stressed the "need to have a conversation about missiles,"
saying, "We would like to see it be part of the discussion with North Korea."
Clinton discussed "a range of options," including additional sanctions by the
U.N. Security Council, which adopted a resolution in 2006 to sanction the North's
ballistic missile launch that year.
China and Russia, however, are expected to shy away from imposing further
sanctions if the North launches a satellite instead of a ballistic missile, as
they greatly diluted possible sanctions in 2006 as veto-wielding members of the
Security Council.
The U.S. engaged in missile talks with North Korea under the Bill Clinton
administration in the late 1990s, when North Korea shocked the world by launching
a rocket to orbit a satellite. Debris from the booster fell into waters off
Alaska.
The missile talks faltered at that time as North Korea demanded US$1 billion per
year in return for its suspension of development and shipments of missiles and
parts to Iran, Syria and other Middle Eastern countries.
President Clinton pledged to visit Pyongyang to conclude the missile and nuclear
talks, but did not do that in his waning months in office in late 2000, citing a
lack of time, only to see successor George W. Bush ignore all agreements with
North Korea as part of a tougher stance with the isolated communist state.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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