WORLD / Asia-Pacific
North Korea fires missiles off coast
(AP)
Updated: 2007-06-07 20:32
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea fired short-range missiles off its
western coast in an apparent test Thursday, South Korea's Defense
Ministry said, amid a deadlock in international negotiations over
Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.
A North Korean missile unit takes part in a military parade to celebrate
the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army in
Pyongyang in this picture taken April 25, 2007 and released May 30, 2007.
[Reuters]
The United States immediately denounced the launch, saying the activity
was "not constructive."
A South Korean Defense Ministry official said it had intelligence that
North Korea launched the short-range missiles into the sea off its
western coast.
"We are trying to confirm how many were fired and what type of missiles
they are," the official said, speaking on customary condition of
anonymity.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency also cited two unidentified intelligence
officials as saying the North fired at least one missile. One of the
officials said Pyongyang fired two - one in the morning and one in the
afternoon - which is believed to be part of the communist regime's
"routine drills," according to Yonhap.
The missiles were either land-to-ship or ship-to-ship models with a range
of less than 62 miles, and fell into North Korea's territorial waters,
the report said.
The news came two weeks after North Korea test-fired at least one
short-range missile into eastern coastal waters, which South Korean and
US officials played down as part of the communist country's regular
military exercises.
But Thursday's launch drew criticism from US National Security Council
spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
"The United States and our allies believe that North Korea should refrain
from testing missiles," said Johndroe, accompanying President Bush to the
Group of Eight summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.
"North Korea should focus on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula
and fulfill its obligations under the Feb. 13 agreement" in which North
Korea pledged to shut down its main nuclear reactor in return for
financial and diplomatic incentives.
"This kind of activity is not constructive," Johndroe said.
In recent weeks, North Korea has refused to move on its pledge to shut
down its main nuclear reactor over a delay in withdrawing $25 million of
its money at a Macau bank that was blacklisted by the US for allegedly
helping the North launder and counterfeit money.
The North has made the release of the funds a key condition to
disarmament, having boycotted international negotiations for more than a
year over the issue, during which it conducted its first nuclear test in
October.
In July 2006, North Korea also test-fired a barrage of missiles,
including a long-range one believed to be capable of reaching even parts
of the US
North Korea is believed to have produced enough plutonium to make as many
as a dozen or more nuclear bombs, but experts say it likely does not have
a bomb design advanced enough to be placed on a missile.
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