North Korea ‘test-fires two missiles’

ArticleData Array ( [Article] => Array ( [article_id] => 1044592 [headline] => North Korea ‘test-fires two missiles’ [abstract] => North Korea has test-fired two more missiles, South Korea's defence ministry says, further stoking tensions sparked by its nuclear standoff with the international community. [keywords] => North Korea, missile, nuclear [content] =>

North Korea has test-fired two more missiles, South Korea's defence ministry says, further stoking tensions sparked by its nuclear standoff with the international community.

"North Korea launched two missiles this morning," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It follows a series of missile launches earlier this week.

The missiles were launched between 8am and 8.30am local time on Saturday from Kitdaeryong Base near the eastern port of Wonsan into the East Sea (Sea of Japan), it said.

"The military, on the basis of a strong joint defence alliance with the United States, is fully prepared to fend off any threats or provocations by the North," it said.

An unidentified government official quoted by Yonhap news agency said both of the missiles were believed to be Scuds with a range of 500km, which would allow the North to strike most of South Korea.

North Korea fired four short-range missiles on Thursday into the Sea of Japan but the range of those missiles was estimated to be only around 120km.

Tests believed to have ‘political purposes’

"The Scuds fired today impose greater security threat to us because of their longer ranges," the official was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

"Thursday's missile tests were apparently made as part of a military drill but today's launches, which came on the eve of the US Independence Day, are believed to be aimed at political purposes," the official said.

This week's missile launches were the first military action the hardline communist state had taken since the United Nations on June 12 imposed tougher sanctions for its May 25 nuclear test.

In the days after its atomic test -- the second since 2006 -- the North also fired a volley of short-range missiles.

In response to the UN resolution tightening curbs on its missile and atomic activities, it vowed to build more nuclear bombs. It also renounced the truce brokered on the Korean peninsula after a civil war in 1950 to 1953.
 

[start_date] => 04 July 2009 | 12:22:21 PM [comments_allowed] => 0 [source] => AFP [commentCount] => 0 [video] => [image] => Array ( [caption] => South Korean forces patrol the North Korean border (AAP) [useRegularImage] => 1 [media_library_id] => 99022 [site_id] => 1 [media_library_group_id] => 0 [media_usage_id] => 0 [filename] => site_1_rand_1368302616_north_korea_patrol_1306_b_aap.jpg [title] => north_korea_patrol_1306_b_aap_1368302616 [description] => file:site_1_rand_1368302616_north_korea_patrol_1306_b_aap.jpg [type] => [height] => 338 [width] => 450 [source] => [video_hi] => [video_lo] => [section] => [display_order] => 0 [create_date] => 2009-07-04 12:25:16 [active] => 1 [media_usage] => Article Large [usageWidth] => 300 [usageHeight] => 225 ) [imagePath] => http://media.sbs.com.au/news/upload_media/ [audio] => [reporter] => [relatedLinks] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 1044222 [label] => Nuclear threat 'has increased since Cold War' [display_order] => 1 [type] => Article ) [1] => Array ( [id] => 1044167 [label] => Australia slams 'provocative' NKorea missile tests [display_order] => 2 [type] => Article ) ) [relatedArticles] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [article_id] => 1044222 [headline] => Nuclear threat 'has increased since Cold War' [abstract] => As North Korea continues testing short-range missiles, an expert on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament says the nuclear threat posed now is worse than at the height of the Cold War.
[content] =>

As North Korea continues testing short-range missiles, an expert on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament says the nuclear threat posed now is worse than at the height of the Cold War.

"All of the expert opinion would suggest that the nuclear threat has increased," Associate Professor Tilman Ruff of the University of Melbourne, says.

Associate Professor Ruff is an advisor to the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, a body set up by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd shortly after he came into office.

Associate Professor Ruff says other international issues have pushed non-proliferation off the global agenda.

"It's also been overshadowed by other threats that have become apparent such as climate change and the other major global challenges of poverty and diseases," he says.

"At the moment I really think we're in a crisis, in nuclear terms, of both danger and opportunity."

 

[content_type_id] => 3 [site_name] => World News Australia [articledate] => 3 July 2009 [articletime] => 3 July 2009 [display_order] => 1 ) [1] => Array ( [article_id] => 1044167 [headline] => Australia slams 'provocative' NKorea missile tests [abstract] => North Korea must stop testing missiles, with the country's provocative actions only serving to isolate it further, Defence Minister John Faulkner says. [content] =>

North Korea must stop testing missiles, with the country's provocative actions only serving to isolate it further, Defence Minister John Faulkner says.

North Korea test-fired four short-range missiles, according to South Korean military officials, further fuelling tension sparked by its nuclear standoff with the international community.
  
The missiles -- apparently surface-to-ship ones -- were fired into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) between 5:20 pm (0820 GMT) and 9:20 pm, defence ministry officials were quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

The United States and Japan also blasted the launches as provocative, but South Korean defence ministry spokesman Won Tae-Jae said the North appeared to be trying to make a point to its neighbour.

Senator Faulkner said that the Australian government was very concerned by its actions.

"The Australian government urges the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) to immediately desist from provocative acts and threats, which we say only have the impact of isolating North Korea further," Mr Faulkner told reporters in Sydney.

"The Australian government has been very clear that we believe North Korea must return to its obligations under the UN resolutions, it must comply with those resolutions and of course its commitments under the six party talks."

Senator Faulkner said the UN had sent a clear message through financial sanctions and an extended arms embargo.

"It's very clear that the international community finds North Korea's actions unacceptable."

NKorea 'beginning to feel effect of santions'

In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the North Koreans were expected to continue their "provocative actions."

But Gibbs said the country was beginning to feel the effect of the sanctions, which call for strengthened inspections of air, sea and land shipments and an expanded arms embargo.

"It is clear sanctions are having an impact," Gibbs said, citing cooperation from Russia and China.

He also suggested the North was beginning to respond to the pressure but did not elaborate.

"Obviously, there have been positive developments over the past few days as it relates to the actions of the North Koreans," Gibbs said.

Asked if he was suggesting that the North showed no signs it was preparing to launch another long-range missile, Gibbs replied: "I don't want to get into intelligence matters."

Washington has said it is not ruling out the possibility of a long-range missile launch toward Hawaii on or around July 4, the US Independence Day, although the Pentagon has expressed doubts about such a scenario.

[content_type_id] => 3 [site_name] => World News Australia [articledate] => 3 July 2009 [articletime] => 3 July 2009 [display_order] => 2 ) ) [comments] => Array ( ) ) [winston] => test )