ID :
51371
Thu, 03/19/2009 - 14:23
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/51371
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N. Korea to face strong diplomatic response to rocket launch: British minister
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, March 19 (Yonhap) -- A British minister urged North Korea Thursday to drop its plan for a rocket launch due in early April, saying it would otherwise face a "strong diplomatic response."
"North Korea is a concern to the whole international community," said Foreign
Office Minister Bill Rammell, who began a two-day trip here on Wednesday.
Rammell stressed that North Korea's launch of a missile, or a satellite as it
claims, would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution, backing the firm
position held by South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. Britain is not a member of the
six-way talks on the North's nuclear program but is a permanent member of the
U.N. Security Council.
North Korea announced that it will fire a rocket carrying an "experimental
communication satellite" between April 4-8. The communist nation is prohibited
from engaging in any type of ballistic missile activity under a U.N. resolution
adopted in 2006. According to defense experts, long-range missiles and space
rockets use virtually the same technology.
"That would be a clear breach of the Chapter 7 Resolution 1718. What we are
trying to do is to persuade North Korea not to go ahead with a launch," Rammell
said.
The minister, who visited Pyongyang in 2004, did not go into detail, saying it is
a hypothetical situation.
"But were North Korea to go ahead with a launch, we would need a strong,
coordinated diplomatic response from the international community," he said.
On the upcoming G-20 summit in London slated for April 2, Rammell said it is a
"crucial milestone in creating the kind of confidence necessary for recovering
the economy," which he said is in the biggest crisis he has seen.
The leaders of the world's 20 advanced economies will express a very strong
commitment to free trade, "rejecting the notion we should move back toward
protectionism, which will aggravate the current difficulty," he said.
He also conveyed condolences to the families of the four South Koreans killed in
a terrorist bomb attack in Yemen earlier this week. Four South Korean tourists
were killed and three others were injured in the explosion.
"That underlines the scale of challenge we collectively face from global
terrorism," he said.
SEOUL, March 19 (Yonhap) -- A British minister urged North Korea Thursday to drop its plan for a rocket launch due in early April, saying it would otherwise face a "strong diplomatic response."
"North Korea is a concern to the whole international community," said Foreign
Office Minister Bill Rammell, who began a two-day trip here on Wednesday.
Rammell stressed that North Korea's launch of a missile, or a satellite as it
claims, would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution, backing the firm
position held by South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. Britain is not a member of the
six-way talks on the North's nuclear program but is a permanent member of the
U.N. Security Council.
North Korea announced that it will fire a rocket carrying an "experimental
communication satellite" between April 4-8. The communist nation is prohibited
from engaging in any type of ballistic missile activity under a U.N. resolution
adopted in 2006. According to defense experts, long-range missiles and space
rockets use virtually the same technology.
"That would be a clear breach of the Chapter 7 Resolution 1718. What we are
trying to do is to persuade North Korea not to go ahead with a launch," Rammell
said.
The minister, who visited Pyongyang in 2004, did not go into detail, saying it is
a hypothetical situation.
"But were North Korea to go ahead with a launch, we would need a strong,
coordinated diplomatic response from the international community," he said.
On the upcoming G-20 summit in London slated for April 2, Rammell said it is a
"crucial milestone in creating the kind of confidence necessary for recovering
the economy," which he said is in the biggest crisis he has seen.
The leaders of the world's 20 advanced economies will express a very strong
commitment to free trade, "rejecting the notion we should move back toward
protectionism, which will aggravate the current difficulty," he said.
He also conveyed condolences to the families of the four South Koreans killed in
a terrorist bomb attack in Yemen earlier this week. Four South Korean tourists
were killed and three others were injured in the explosion.
"That underlines the scale of challenge we collectively face from global
terrorism," he said.
