Russia says N.Korea ballistic missile launches futile
17:0810/06/2009 BALABANOVO, June 10 (RIA Novosti) - North Korea will gain nothing from new ballistic missile launches, Russia's deputy defense minister said on Wednesday.
South Korean media reported earlier this month that the North was planning to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile, in defiance of a UN ban. Russian sources have also said a ballistic test is likely to take place.
Col. Gen. Alexander Kolmakov told RIA Novosti: "North Korea's further ballistic missile launches have no serious perspectives."
The reclusive communist state has carried out a series of short-range missile launches in recent weeks, as well as a nuclear test, and has threatened steps to build up its deterrence potential to counter what it calls hostile U.S. actions.
Kolmakov said he hoped the common stance of world powers on the issue would help Pyongyang "take a sober view of its actions."
The five permanent UN Security Council members - Russia, the U.S., China, France, the U.K. - along with North Korea's neighbors, Japan and South Korea, moved closer late on Tuesday to an agreement on a resolution to impose sanctions on Pyongyang over the May 25 nuclear test.
The countries have condemned the test as a violation of Resolution 1718 and the international non-proliferation treaty. The impoverished country is already under a number of UN sanctions over its first nuclear test, carried out in 2006.
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