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North Korea Defends Right to Test Missiles

By VOA News
20 June 2006

North Korea says that a 2002 agreement with Japan does not prevent it from conducting long-range missile tests.

A North Korean foreign ministry official told Japanese reporters Tuesday is country is not bound by any previous agreement or statement. The 2002 agreement between North Korea and Japan called for a moratorium on such missile tests.

But North Korean officials did not confirm or deny that a missile test is imminent.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has joined leaders from Washington and the Asia Pacific region who are calling on Pyongyang to abandon any test plans. Mr. Annan urged North Korean to listen and hear what the world is saying.

North Korea struck out at the U.S. in an official media report Tuesday. Pyongyang called on Washington not to develop space-based weapons. North Korea also accused the U.S. of having a deep-rooted scheme to gratify its ambition of world supremacy. The U.S. has not responded to North Korea's statement.

South Korean lawmakers who attended an intelligence briefing today say they are not certain that North Korea is ready to test fire a missile, contrary to earlier reports.

South Korean officials say they are not sure Pyongyang has completed fueling a missile.

Chances of a launch have further diminished due to bad weather. South Korea's weather agency is forecasting storms over North Korea's prospective launch site.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said any launch of a long-range missile by Pyongyang would be considered a "provocative act." She said Washington is working with its allies on how to respond if a long-range missile capable of reaching U.S. soil is fired.

The U.S. Defense Department says with no advance notice from North Korean, it would not be possible to know if a missile launch is intended only as a test.

The reclusive communist state last tested a missile in 1998.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.