North Korea says not bound by missile test pledges

By Jon Herskovitz

SEOUL (Reuters) – A North Korean official said on Tuesday
the reclusive state does not feel bound by pledges it has made
to halt test firings of long-range missiles, while regional
powers have warned a launch would be a grave mistake.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday a
North Korean long-range missile was on the pad but he was not
sure if it was completely fueled.

He called on Pyongyang to scrap test plans, while analysts
wondered if North Korea was using its tried and tested strategy
of brinkmanship to increase its bargaining position.

U.S. officials say evidence such as satellite pictures
suggests Pyongyang may have finished fuelling a Taepodong-2
missile, which some experts said could reach as far as Alaska.

But some U.S. officials said suggestions of an imminent
missile launch were based on incomplete intelligence and
satellite photos pointed to nothing conclusive, the Washington
Post reported on Tuesday.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry regards the issue of a
long-range missile test as one “not bound by any statement such
as the Pyongyang Declaration,” Ri Pyong-dok, a deputy
chief-level researcher at the ministry’s Asian Affairs division
told Japanese reporters on Tuesday, Kyodo news agency reported.

The Pyongyang Declaration was an agreement reached in 2002
between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North
Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Under that pact, Kim pledged to uphold all international
treaties on nuclear issues, extend a moratorium on ballistic
missile launches and resolve issues related to the “lives and
security” of Japanese nationals — a reference to Japanese
kidnapped by Pyongyang’s agents decades ago to help train
spies.

Seoul, Tokyo, and Washington have said a launch would
present a grave threat to regional security, while the United
States and Japan have promised harsh action if the test flight
goes ahead.

ON THE PAD

China, the North’s closest ally, said it had no details of
any test-flight preparations and called for calm.

“It is not sure that they have put the fuel in the rockets
but it seems to be sure that they have assembled these missiles
in the launching pad,” Ban told reporters in Geneva.

South Korea’s weather agency forecast overcast skies and
storms on Wednesday in North Hamgyong province, where North
Korea has a launch site, and said this should be the pattern
for the rest of the week as a storm front moves through.

Analysts say clouds and storms would make it difficult for
North Korea to track a missile once in flight, decreasing the
likelihood of a launch.

“You don’t want to test launch a missile into a storm,”
said Peter Beck, a Korea analyst in Seoul for the International
Crisis Group.

Reports of test preparations coincide with a stalemate in
six-party talks on unwinding Pyongyang’s nuclear arms programs.

Some analysts believe that North Korea is piqued world
attention has shifted to concerns about Iran’s nuclear
ambitions and angered at a U.S. crackdown that has frozen hard
currency income from alleged illegal activities such as money
laundering.

PLAYING A FINESSE GAME?

Beck said that by raising the prospect of a missile test,
the Stalinist state had successfully grabbed global attention
and rattled security concerns, but he was not sure if Pyongyang
would scrap the launch in the face of pressure or go ahead.

“If they are really playing a finesse game they will back
away but … they are not known for their finesse game,” he
said.

Alexander Vershbow, U.S. ambassador to Seoul, told
reporters any work on a potential delivery system, such as a
missile, for a nuclear weapon creates a serious security
threat.

Proliferation experts have said it is not likely North
Korea has the technology to miniaturize a nuclear weapon so
that it can be mounted on a missile.

In an official media report on Tuesday, North Korea called
on Washington not to develop space-based weapons, saying it had
a “deep-rooted scheme to gratify its ambition of world
supremacy,” but it did no mention its own missile or satellite
ambitions.

North Korea shocked the world in 1998 when it fired a
missile, part of which flew over Japan and landed in the
Pacific Ocean. Pyongyang trumpeted that as a satellite launch.

“A missile launch is North Korea’s second-biggest ‘card’
after a nuclear test, and they would have to seriously consider
the timing,” said Masao Okonogi, a Korea expert at Keio
University in Tokyo.

“I think this is a bluff,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Richard
Waddington in Geneva, Jack Kim and Lee Jin-joo in Seoul, Ben
Blanchard in Beijing, Linda Sieg and Ted Kerr in Tokyo)