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SLUG: 2-300008 NoKor / Missile
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DATE=02/25/03 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=NOKOR MISSILE - L NUMBER=2-300008 BYLINE=KATE POUND DAWSON DATELINE=SEOUL CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: South Korean officials say North Korea has fired an anti-ship missile into the Sea of Japan near the Korean Peninsula. As V-O-A's Kate Pound Dawson reports from Seoul, the apparent test firing comes as South Korea inaugurates a new president amid a five-month crisis over Pyongyang's reactivated nuclear programs. TEXT: South Korean defense officials say the missile was fired Monday into what Koreans call the East Sea, which is internationally known as the Sea of Japan. The missile appears to be a short-range anti-ship missile. /// OPT /// There are reports that North Korea has admitted to testing two missiles Monday./// END OPT /// This is the first time in almost five years that North Korea has tested any missiles. The missile launch came less than 24 hours before the inauguration of South Korea's new president, Roh Moo-hyun, Tuesday morning. U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell is in Seoul to attend the ceremony, along with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Both the United States and Japan have urged North Korea to avoid launching any missiles until the current international dispute over its nuclear programs has been settled. Concern has been mounting since October, when the United States confronted North Korea with evidence it had a covert nuclear weapons program. Since then, Pyongyang has taken a series of steps to publicly reactivate nuclear facilities. Efforts to get North Korea to return to complying with its international commitments to be nuclear free have so far failed. Each round of diplomacy has resulted with North Korea escalating tensions. North Korea says its actions are for its own defense since it feels threatened by a possible attack from the United States. Just last week, a North Korean fighter jet crossed into South Korean airspace for the first time in 20 years. The North also has threatened to withdraw from the armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War in 1953. Chun Hong-chan is a political science professor at Busan University who has studied North Korean affairs. He thinks the missile launch is part of a pattern of bellicose behavior aimed at driving a wedge between the South's new president and the United States. President Roh has differed with the Washington on how it is handling the North Korea issue. Professor Chun thinks Pyongyang will continue such tactics. /// CHUN ACT /// I would expect much more. They'll keep doing that. They'll test the South Korean response to their actions and they kind of measure the waters how the new government will react to such behavior. /// END ACT /// Meanwhile, President Roh told the world in his inauguration address he remains committed to dialogue with North Korea as a means to bring permanent peace to the peninsula and resolve the nuclear dispute. The United States has recently said it would consider all options to make sure North Korea does not have nuclear weapons. (Signed) NEB/HK/KPD/JO/MAR |
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