ID :
52167
Wed, 03/25/2009 - 08:25
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/52167
The shortlink copeid
U.S. sees N. Korean missile threat as negotiating tactic: commander
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, March 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has been upping the ante in future rounds of multilateral nuclear talks with threats to launch a rocket and other provocative actions against the U.S. and its allies, the commander of the U.S. forces in Korea said Tuesday.
"North Korea's most recent provocative actions are all an attempt to ensure the
regime's survival and improve its bargaining position at international
negotiations to gain concessions," Gen. Walter Sharp said in a House Armed
Services Committee hearing.
Sharp, also commander of the combined forces of South Korea and the U.S., said
the command will "continue to be concerned with the threat posed by North Korea's
large conventional military, artillery, ballistic missiles, and special operating
forces, all that are located very near the North-South Korean border."
The U.S. maintains about 28,000 troops in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53
Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. American forces fought
for South Korea against invading communist North Korean troops aided by their
Chinese ally.
Sharp's remarks come just days before chief nuclear negotiators of South Korea,
the U.S. and Japan are to get together in Washington Friday to discuss ways to
persuade North Korea not to launch the rocket, which the North says is to put a
satellite into orbit.
The U.S. and its allies see the rocket launch as a cover for a ballistic missile
firing and warn of possible additional sanctions to those imposed under a U.N.
resolution in 2006 that bans the North from any ballistic missile activity.
North Korea has threatened to retaliate and boycott the six-party talks if the
U.S. and its allies try to shoot down the rocket.
The six-party talks were stalled in December as North Korea would not agree to a
verification protocol for its nuclear facilities.
Sharp said North Korea's provocative actions are aimed at securing its regime
survival.
"Regime survival remains the North Koreans' overriding focus," he said. "North
Korea remains the primary threat to stability and security in northeast Asia.
North Korea remains the world's leading supplier of ballistic missiles and
related technology and remains a major proliferator of conventional weapons as
well."
The commander told a Senate hearing last week that North Korea has been "fielding
a new intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of striking Okinawa, Guam and
Alaska, and continues to develop and mature systems with an intercontinental
range capability."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the U.S. wants to hold
missile talks with North Korea, although she did not elaborate on whether the
missile talks should be incorporated with the ongoing nuclear talks.
A State Department official, asking anonymity, said that Washington wants to
address the missile issue in one way or another, but added, "We need to discuss
that matter with other parties to the six-party talks."
Frank Jannuzi, professional staff member of the Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations, told a seminar Monday that the Obama administration wants to revive
the missile talks with North Korea suspended under the Bill Clinton
administration.
"If North Korea would not deploy, would not export, would not produce long range
missiles, it's cheaper than keeping an aircraft carrier to shoot it down, cheaper
than keeping national missile defense in Alaska," he said, referring to North
Korea's demand a decade earlier that the U.S. provide up to US$1 billion annually
in return for the North refraining from exporting its missile and parts.
North Korea is said to be a major provider of missiles and missile parts to
Syria, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries.
The missile talks were the outcome of North Korea's launch of its first Taepodong
ballistic missile over Japan in 1998, which shocked the Clinton administration
when the debris fell into seas off Alaska.
Another State Department official dismissed Jannuzi's remarks as "a private
opinion" that has nothing to do with the U.S. government's official position,
saying the U.S. government needs to be very cautious in approaching such a
sensitive issue.
WASHINGTON, March 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has been upping the ante in future rounds of multilateral nuclear talks with threats to launch a rocket and other provocative actions against the U.S. and its allies, the commander of the U.S. forces in Korea said Tuesday.
"North Korea's most recent provocative actions are all an attempt to ensure the
regime's survival and improve its bargaining position at international
negotiations to gain concessions," Gen. Walter Sharp said in a House Armed
Services Committee hearing.
Sharp, also commander of the combined forces of South Korea and the U.S., said
the command will "continue to be concerned with the threat posed by North Korea's
large conventional military, artillery, ballistic missiles, and special operating
forces, all that are located very near the North-South Korean border."
The U.S. maintains about 28,000 troops in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53
Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. American forces fought
for South Korea against invading communist North Korean troops aided by their
Chinese ally.
Sharp's remarks come just days before chief nuclear negotiators of South Korea,
the U.S. and Japan are to get together in Washington Friday to discuss ways to
persuade North Korea not to launch the rocket, which the North says is to put a
satellite into orbit.
The U.S. and its allies see the rocket launch as a cover for a ballistic missile
firing and warn of possible additional sanctions to those imposed under a U.N.
resolution in 2006 that bans the North from any ballistic missile activity.
North Korea has threatened to retaliate and boycott the six-party talks if the
U.S. and its allies try to shoot down the rocket.
The six-party talks were stalled in December as North Korea would not agree to a
verification protocol for its nuclear facilities.
Sharp said North Korea's provocative actions are aimed at securing its regime
survival.
"Regime survival remains the North Koreans' overriding focus," he said. "North
Korea remains the primary threat to stability and security in northeast Asia.
North Korea remains the world's leading supplier of ballistic missiles and
related technology and remains a major proliferator of conventional weapons as
well."
The commander told a Senate hearing last week that North Korea has been "fielding
a new intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of striking Okinawa, Guam and
Alaska, and continues to develop and mature systems with an intercontinental
range capability."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the U.S. wants to hold
missile talks with North Korea, although she did not elaborate on whether the
missile talks should be incorporated with the ongoing nuclear talks.
A State Department official, asking anonymity, said that Washington wants to
address the missile issue in one way or another, but added, "We need to discuss
that matter with other parties to the six-party talks."
Frank Jannuzi, professional staff member of the Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations, told a seminar Monday that the Obama administration wants to revive
the missile talks with North Korea suspended under the Bill Clinton
administration.
"If North Korea would not deploy, would not export, would not produce long range
missiles, it's cheaper than keeping an aircraft carrier to shoot it down, cheaper
than keeping national missile defense in Alaska," he said, referring to North
Korea's demand a decade earlier that the U.S. provide up to US$1 billion annually
in return for the North refraining from exporting its missile and parts.
North Korea is said to be a major provider of missiles and missile parts to
Syria, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries.
The missile talks were the outcome of North Korea's launch of its first Taepodong
ballistic missile over Japan in 1998, which shocked the Clinton administration
when the debris fell into seas off Alaska.
Another State Department official dismissed Jannuzi's remarks as "a private
opinion" that has nothing to do with the U.S. government's official position,
saying the U.S. government needs to be very cautious in approaching such a
sensitive issue.
