ID :
58252
Thu, 04/30/2009 - 07:24
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/58252
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea threatens nuclear, missile tests
SEOUL, April 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korea threatened Wednesday it will conduct nuclear and missile tests unless the U.N. Security Council "immediately" apologizes for its punitive actions against Pyongyang's April 5 rocket launch.
In a statement issued by a foreign ministry spokesman, North Korea also warned it
will start building a light-water reactor and self-production of nuclear fuel, an
indication that it will begin a uranium enrichment program.
"The UNSC should promptly make an apology for having infringed the sovereignty of
the DPRK (North Korea) and withdraw all its unreasonable and discriminative
'resolutions' and decisions adopted against the DPRK," the unidentified spokesman
said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
"In case the UNSC does not make an immediate apology," the spokesman said, "the
DPRK will be compelled to take additional self-defensive measures in order to
defend its supreme interests. The measures will include nuclear tests and
test-firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles."
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.
The communist state announced over the weekend that it has begun reprocessing the
spent fuel rods from its main nuclear facility in Yongbyon. Seoul officials
believe North Korea may be able to make one or two nuclear bombs with the
plutonium extracted from about 8,000 spent fuel rods it currently has.
The 15-member U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a presidential statement
on April 14 condemning North Korea's rocket launch as violating an earlier U.N.
resolution banning its ballistic missile activity. The Security Council followed
up by freezing foreign assets of three North Korean firms suspected of aiding the
country's nuclear and missile activities.
North Korea says the U.N. action is unfair, claiming the launch was a peaceful
space program to orbit a satellite. South Korea, the United States and their
allies believe North Korea was actually testing its long-range missile
technology.
In protest, Pyongyang withdrew from the nuclear disarmament talks and expelled
international monitors.
The spokesman said the U.N. sanctions can never work on North Korea that has been
subject to "all sorts of sanctions and blockade by the hostile forces" for
decades.
"This (an apology) is the only way for it to regain confidence of the U.N. member
nations and fulfill its responsibility for maintaining international peace and
security, not serving as a tool for the U.S. highhanded and arbitrary practices
any longer," the spokesman said.
The U.N. sanctions are the same as a "declaration of war" against North Korea,
the spokesman claimed, saying an armistice the U.N. and the U.S. signed with
North Korea and China to end the 1950-53 Korean War is no longer effective.
Seoul officials, responding calmly, said no sign has yet been detected of North
Korea preparing for a nuclear test.
"We don't have such information yet," a foreign ministry official said,
requesting anonymity. "We will calmly keep watch the situation and discuss
countermeasures with the U.S. and other pertinent nations."
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul,
said North Korea is declaring that a nuclear test is certain to take place by
demanding the impossible from the U.N. The Security Council has never apologized
to a nation over its action.
Only the U.S. can stop North Korea from the next move by proposing bilateral
dialogue, Yang said.
"North Korea attached a condition that has no historic precedent and is
impossible ... a strong message that it will put its words into action," Yang
said. "There is nothing that can stop this, except the U.S. starting dialogue
with North Korea."
Under a landmark agreement with South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia in
2007, North Korea began disabling its Yongbyon nuclear facility that year.
Pyongyang blew up the cooling tower at its main atomic reactor in Yongbyon in a
show of its commitment to stop making plutonium for nuclear bombs. In response,
the U.S. removed the North from its list of state sponsors of terror in October
last year.
But the six-party talks hit a snag since over how to verify North Korea's past
nuclear activities.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
In a statement issued by a foreign ministry spokesman, North Korea also warned it
will start building a light-water reactor and self-production of nuclear fuel, an
indication that it will begin a uranium enrichment program.
"The UNSC should promptly make an apology for having infringed the sovereignty of
the DPRK (North Korea) and withdraw all its unreasonable and discriminative
'resolutions' and decisions adopted against the DPRK," the unidentified spokesman
said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
"In case the UNSC does not make an immediate apology," the spokesman said, "the
DPRK will be compelled to take additional self-defensive measures in order to
defend its supreme interests. The measures will include nuclear tests and
test-firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles."
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.
The communist state announced over the weekend that it has begun reprocessing the
spent fuel rods from its main nuclear facility in Yongbyon. Seoul officials
believe North Korea may be able to make one or two nuclear bombs with the
plutonium extracted from about 8,000 spent fuel rods it currently has.
The 15-member U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a presidential statement
on April 14 condemning North Korea's rocket launch as violating an earlier U.N.
resolution banning its ballistic missile activity. The Security Council followed
up by freezing foreign assets of three North Korean firms suspected of aiding the
country's nuclear and missile activities.
North Korea says the U.N. action is unfair, claiming the launch was a peaceful
space program to orbit a satellite. South Korea, the United States and their
allies believe North Korea was actually testing its long-range missile
technology.
In protest, Pyongyang withdrew from the nuclear disarmament talks and expelled
international monitors.
The spokesman said the U.N. sanctions can never work on North Korea that has been
subject to "all sorts of sanctions and blockade by the hostile forces" for
decades.
"This (an apology) is the only way for it to regain confidence of the U.N. member
nations and fulfill its responsibility for maintaining international peace and
security, not serving as a tool for the U.S. highhanded and arbitrary practices
any longer," the spokesman said.
The U.N. sanctions are the same as a "declaration of war" against North Korea,
the spokesman claimed, saying an armistice the U.N. and the U.S. signed with
North Korea and China to end the 1950-53 Korean War is no longer effective.
Seoul officials, responding calmly, said no sign has yet been detected of North
Korea preparing for a nuclear test.
"We don't have such information yet," a foreign ministry official said,
requesting anonymity. "We will calmly keep watch the situation and discuss
countermeasures with the U.S. and other pertinent nations."
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul,
said North Korea is declaring that a nuclear test is certain to take place by
demanding the impossible from the U.N. The Security Council has never apologized
to a nation over its action.
Only the U.S. can stop North Korea from the next move by proposing bilateral
dialogue, Yang said.
"North Korea attached a condition that has no historic precedent and is
impossible ... a strong message that it will put its words into action," Yang
said. "There is nothing that can stop this, except the U.S. starting dialogue
with North Korea."
Under a landmark agreement with South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia in
2007, North Korea began disabling its Yongbyon nuclear facility that year.
Pyongyang blew up the cooling tower at its main atomic reactor in Yongbyon in a
show of its commitment to stop making plutonium for nuclear bombs. In response,
the U.S. removed the North from its list of state sponsors of terror in October
last year.
But the six-party talks hit a snag since over how to verify North Korea's past
nuclear activities.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
