N. Korea warns rockets are designed to strike US
Source: Agencies |
January 25, 2013, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
NORTH Korea's top governing body warned yesterday the country will conduct its third nuclear test in defiance of UN punishment, and made clear its long-range rockets are designed to carry not only satellites but also warheads aimed at striking the US.
The National Defense Commission, headed by the country's young leader Kim Jong Un, denounced Tuesday's UN Security Council resolution condemning North Korea's long-range rocket launch in December as a banned missile activity and expanding sanctions against the country.
The commission reaffirmed in its declaration the launch was a peaceful bid to send a satellite into space, but also clearly indicated the country's rocket launches have a military purpose: to strike and attack the US.
The commission pledged to keep launching satellites and rockets and to conduct a nuclear test as part of a "new phase" of combat with the US, which it blames for leading the UN bid to punish Pyongyang. It said a nuclear test was part of "upcoming" action but did not say exactly when or where it would take place.
"We do not hide that a variety of satellites and long-range rockets which will be launched one after another and a nuclear test of higher level which will be carried out in the upcoming all-out action, a new phase of the anti-US struggle that has lasted century after century, will target against the US, the sworn enemy of the Korean people," the commission said.
"Settling accounts with the US needs to be done with force, not with words, as it regards jungle law as the rule of its survival," the commission said.
North Korea's allusion to a "higher level" nuclear test most likely refers to a device made from highly enriched uranium, which is easier to miniaturize than the plutonium bombs it tested in 2006 and 2009, said Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea. Experts say the North Koreans must conduct further tests of its atomic devices and master the technique for making them smaller before they can be mounted as nuclear warheads onto long-range missiles.
Shortly before the commission issued its declaration, US envoy on North Korea Glyn Davies urged Pyongyang not to explode an atomic device.
"Whether North Korea tests or not, it's up to North Korea. We hope they don't do it. We call on them not to do it," he told reporters in Seoul after meeting with South Korean officials. "It will be a mistake and a missed opportunity if they were to do it."
Davies was in Seoul on a trip that includes stops in China and Japan for talks on how to move forward on North Korea relations.
North Korea claims the right to build nuclear weapons as a defense against the US, its Korean War foe.
The National Defense Commission, headed by the country's young leader Kim Jong Un, denounced Tuesday's UN Security Council resolution condemning North Korea's long-range rocket launch in December as a banned missile activity and expanding sanctions against the country.
The commission reaffirmed in its declaration the launch was a peaceful bid to send a satellite into space, but also clearly indicated the country's rocket launches have a military purpose: to strike and attack the US.
The commission pledged to keep launching satellites and rockets and to conduct a nuclear test as part of a "new phase" of combat with the US, which it blames for leading the UN bid to punish Pyongyang. It said a nuclear test was part of "upcoming" action but did not say exactly when or where it would take place.
"We do not hide that a variety of satellites and long-range rockets which will be launched one after another and a nuclear test of higher level which will be carried out in the upcoming all-out action, a new phase of the anti-US struggle that has lasted century after century, will target against the US, the sworn enemy of the Korean people," the commission said.
"Settling accounts with the US needs to be done with force, not with words, as it regards jungle law as the rule of its survival," the commission said.
North Korea's allusion to a "higher level" nuclear test most likely refers to a device made from highly enriched uranium, which is easier to miniaturize than the plutonium bombs it tested in 2006 and 2009, said Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea. Experts say the North Koreans must conduct further tests of its atomic devices and master the technique for making them smaller before they can be mounted as nuclear warheads onto long-range missiles.
Shortly before the commission issued its declaration, US envoy on North Korea Glyn Davies urged Pyongyang not to explode an atomic device.
"Whether North Korea tests or not, it's up to North Korea. We hope they don't do it. We call on them not to do it," he told reporters in Seoul after meeting with South Korean officials. "It will be a mistake and a missed opportunity if they were to do it."
Davies was in Seoul on a trip that includes stops in China and Japan for talks on how to move forward on North Korea relations.
North Korea claims the right to build nuclear weapons as a defense against the US, its Korean War foe.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
