South Korea and USA to begin formal talks on missile defense system
Febbraio 9, 2016
True to its words, North Korea did launch a long-range rocket towards space today.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the North’s actions “absolutely intolerable”.
Hours after the rest of the world already knew, North Korea’s state media triumphantly announced in a special news bulletin to the nation Sunday it had successfully launched a satellite into orbit, calling it a major milestone in the nation’s history and the “greatest gift of loyalty” to the country’s young leader, Kim Jong Un.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Pyongyang had clearly shown that nuclear and missile programmes took priority over improving the well-being of its people.
There are no reports of damage from the North Korean launch.
North Korea has claimed it launched a “peaceful satellite”.
The launch into space occurred at 7:29 p.m., EST, with North American Aerospace Defense Command determining that at no time was the missile a threat to North America, Stratcom officials said in a news release.
U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice called it “yet another destabilizing and provocative action” and “a flagrant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions”.
However, the newspaper admitted that China could not prevent South Korea from accepting the US missile shield, saying, “China’s advocacy for de-escalating the tensions has not been well responded”.
So far, the Security Council has adopted six resolutions, six presidential statements and two press statements with regard to the North’s nuclear and missile program. A commentary run by the state-run Xinhua news agency immediately after the launch said: “Amid criticism and condemnation, what should be borne in mind is that negotiations are the only viable solution to the predicament on the Korean Peninsula, as China has repeatedly pointed out”.
These sources also suggest that the range of this new missile may be as much as 13,000km (8,000 miles) compared with the roughly 10,000 km range of the Unha 3.
North Korea says its rocket launches are satellite missions, but the US, South Korea and others say they are a covert test of ballistic missile technology.
The UN Security Council resolutions also prohibit North Korean space launches, but the North claims it has the right to do them, and the UN has failed to convince North Korea otherwise. “What we need is no longer dialogue but using the pressure”, said Japan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Motohide Yoshikawa.
“If North Korea has only nuclear weapons, that’s not that intimidating”.
The United States and South Korea are still analyzing the launch.
A surge in military tensions on the Korean peninsula looked likely, with South Korean and U.S. defense officials announcing talks on the deployment of an advanced United States missile defense system in South Korea.
Kim Jong Un has overseen two of the North’s four nuclear tests and three long-range rocket launches since taking over after the death of his father, dictator Kim Jong Il, in late 2011. But it is barred under UN Security Council resolutions from using ballistic missile technology.
US and South Korean defense analysts believe Pyongyang is attempting to miniaturize a nuclear warhead that can be mounted on a long-range rocket, but most believe the North is still a ways from perfecting such technology.
China, North Korea’s diplomatic and economic lifeline, has resisted calls to hand down crippling economic sanctions on North Korea following its latest nuclear test. If they have only rockets, that’s not that intimidating, either.
But critics say the North still has some technical barriers to surmount to achieve reliable nuclear weapons that can attack faraway targets.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the North’s actions “absolutely intolerable”.
Hours after the rest of the world already knew, North Korea’s state media triumphantly announced in a special news bulletin to the nation Sunday it had successfully launched a satellite into orbit, calling it a major milestone in the nation’s history and the “greatest gift of loyalty” to the country’s young leader, Kim Jong Un.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Pyongyang had clearly shown that nuclear and missile programmes took priority over improving the well-being of its people.
There are no reports of damage from the North Korean launch.
North Korea has claimed it launched a “peaceful satellite”.
The launch into space occurred at 7:29 p.m., EST, with North American Aerospace Defense Command determining that at no time was the missile a threat to North America, Stratcom officials said in a news release.
U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice called it “yet another destabilizing and provocative action” and “a flagrant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions”.
However, the newspaper admitted that China could not prevent South Korea from accepting the US missile shield, saying, “China’s advocacy for de-escalating the tensions has not been well responded”.
So far, the Security Council has adopted six resolutions, six presidential statements and two press statements with regard to the North’s nuclear and missile program. A commentary run by the state-run Xinhua news agency immediately after the launch said: “Amid criticism and condemnation, what should be borne in mind is that negotiations are the only viable solution to the predicament on the Korean Peninsula, as China has repeatedly pointed out”.
These sources also suggest that the range of this new missile may be as much as 13,000km (8,000 miles) compared with the roughly 10,000 km range of the Unha 3.
North Korea says its rocket launches are satellite missions, but the US, South Korea and others say they are a covert test of ballistic missile technology.
The UN Security Council resolutions also prohibit North Korean space launches, but the North claims it has the right to do them, and the UN has failed to convince North Korea otherwise. “What we need is no longer dialogue but using the pressure”, said Japan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Motohide Yoshikawa.
“If North Korea has only nuclear weapons, that’s not that intimidating”.
The United States and South Korea are still analyzing the launch.
A surge in military tensions on the Korean peninsula looked likely, with South Korean and U.S. defense officials announcing talks on the deployment of an advanced United States missile defense system in South Korea.
Kim Jong Un has overseen two of the North’s four nuclear tests and three long-range rocket launches since taking over after the death of his father, dictator Kim Jong Il, in late 2011. But it is barred under UN Security Council resolutions from using ballistic missile technology.
US and South Korean defense analysts believe Pyongyang is attempting to miniaturize a nuclear warhead that can be mounted on a long-range rocket, but most believe the North is still a ways from perfecting such technology.
China, North Korea’s diplomatic and economic lifeline, has resisted calls to hand down crippling economic sanctions on North Korea following its latest nuclear test. If they have only rockets, that’s not that intimidating, either.
But critics say the North still has some technical barriers to surmount to achieve reliable nuclear weapons that can attack faraway targets.
