North Korea defies West over launch
Source: Agencies |
March 19, 2012, Monday
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NORTH Korea vowed yesterday to go ahead with plans to launch a long-range rocket, rejecting criticism in the West that it would scuttle recent diplomacy.
North Korea said last Friday that it would fire an observation satellite into space on a new rocket as part of celebrations next month of the 100th anniversary of late President Kim Il Sung's birth.
The announcement came about two weeks after it had agreed to suspend long-range missile tests and make nuclear concessions in exchange for food aid from the United States. The agreement was seen as a promising step toward improved relations between the two wartime enemies.
The US, Britain and others have urged North Korea to cancel the planned launch, calling it a threat to diplomatic efforts and warning that it would violate a United Nations ban on nuclear and missile activity because the same rocket technology can be used for long-range missiles.
Yesterday, North Korea's official news agency dismissed the criticism, saying the country had the right to the peaceful use of space.
"It is a sinister and deliberate anti-peace action" by "hostile forces," the Korean Central News Agency said. It said North Korea remained determined to carry out its plans.
The launch, planned between April 12 and 16, would be North Korea's third announced attempt since 1998 to send a satellite into space aboard a long-range rocket. It defied similar criticism in April 2009 and went ahead with a launch that was condemned by the UN Security Council.
North Korea quit international nuclear disarmament talks in response and then tested an atomic device.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged North Korea to reconsider the launch, and US officials warned they would not provide 240,000 tons of promised food aid if it goes ahead.
North Korea said last Friday that it would fire an observation satellite into space on a new rocket as part of celebrations next month of the 100th anniversary of late President Kim Il Sung's birth.
The announcement came about two weeks after it had agreed to suspend long-range missile tests and make nuclear concessions in exchange for food aid from the United States. The agreement was seen as a promising step toward improved relations between the two wartime enemies.
The US, Britain and others have urged North Korea to cancel the planned launch, calling it a threat to diplomatic efforts and warning that it would violate a United Nations ban on nuclear and missile activity because the same rocket technology can be used for long-range missiles.
Yesterday, North Korea's official news agency dismissed the criticism, saying the country had the right to the peaceful use of space.
"It is a sinister and deliberate anti-peace action" by "hostile forces," the Korean Central News Agency said. It said North Korea remained determined to carry out its plans.
The launch, planned between April 12 and 16, would be North Korea's third announced attempt since 1998 to send a satellite into space aboard a long-range rocket. It defied similar criticism in April 2009 and went ahead with a launch that was condemned by the UN Security Council.
North Korea quit international nuclear disarmament talks in response and then tested an atomic device.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged North Korea to reconsider the launch, and US officials warned they would not provide 240,000 tons of promised food aid if it goes ahead.
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