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Pacific Stars and Stripes
October 19, 1999
Pg. 3

By Jim Lea, Stripes Osan Bureau Chief

North Korea pointed to the upcoming military exercise between South Korean and U.S. troops as a motive for conducting a missile development program, the official newspaper of Pyonyang's ruling Worker's Party said.

"Our missile development is an issue of national sovereignty and a self-defense measure we take to protect ourselves from the continued menace of the United States," according to a commentary in the Rodong newspaper. The report was carried by the state-operated Korean Central News Agency.

"The United States is holding a joint military exercise called 'Foal Eagle' and is strengthening its military and war training on the Korean Peninsula and in neighboring areas," the newspaper said. The commentary said Foal Eagle is preparation for war against the North - an outbreak of which "is merely a matter of time."

Missiles, Pyongyang said, will provide self-defense when that war comes. The commentary, monitored in Seoul on Sunday, accused the United States and its allies of "assembling a large invading military force on the Korean Peninsula and in neighboring areas and aiming it at our republic."

The newspaper said the easing of some long-standing U.S. sanctions against North Korea last month was only a hollow "on-the-surface" gesture. After North Korea agreed to suspend its missile program, President Clinton lifted some sanctions that have been in place since the end of the Korean War.

Since the sanctions were lifted, however, KCNA and North Korean officials have said missile development programs will continue and a freeze on test firings will remain in place only as long as Pyongyang is "properly compensated" by Washington.

Until Pyongyang made its pledge in Berlin last month not to test fire missiles, U.S., Japanese and South Korean officials had expected the North to launch a Taepodong-2 missile. That missile has an estimated range of up to 3,700 miles, enough to hit targets anywhere in Japan and as far away as Alaska, Guam and Hawaii.