Skip to main content

NKorea test-fires five ballistic missiles

Saturday, July 04, 2009 SEOUL: North Korea test-fired five ballistic missiles Saturday, South Korean officials said, in an apparent message of defiance to the United States on the eve of its Independence Day holiday. They came as Washington seeks support for tough enforcement of United Nations sanctions aimed at shutting down the North's nuclear and missile programmes. Seoul's foreign ministry said the first four weapons launched into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) were ballistic missiles, which the North is banned from firing under various Security Council resolutions. Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the latest missile, fired at 2:50 pm (0550 GMT), was of the same type as the first four. It was the first time in three years that the North fired multiple ballistic missiles. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said they had a range of between 400 and 500 km (250-312 miles) but declined to say what type they were. A local news agency said they were either Scuds, or Rodong-1 missiles whose maximum range of 1,300 km had been shortened. The North on Thursday test-fired four short-range missiles with a range of 120 km into the Sea of Japan. The latest launches, which started at 8 am, were seen as more provocative since the missiles could potentially reach most of South Korea, and possibly parts of Japan. "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," the Joint Chiefs said in a statement. The foreign ministry said the missiles were fired from a site at Kitdaeryong near the eastern port of Wonsan. It said the "provocative act... clearly violates" three UN Security Council resolutions, including the latest one on June 12 which toughened weapons-related sanctions on the North in response to its May 25 nuclear test. In a statement the ministry expressed "deep regret over North Korea's continued acts to escalate tensions in Northeast Asia." Professor Kim Yong-Hyun of Seoul's Dongguk University said the launches were clearly timed to coincide with US Independence Day. "This is a thinly veiled warning to the United States and the international community that it may launch long-range missiles next time," he said while talking to a French news agency. "The North is exercising salami tactics, firing short-range missiles on Thursday and launching missiles with longer range today." Professor Yang Moo-Jin at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies said the North was trying to show it could defend its long-range missile launch site at Musudan-ri further to the north, and "testing the waters" following the UN resolution. Japan condemned the launches. "It is a serious act of provocation against the security of neighbouring countries, including our country," Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said. Kawamura warned Tokyo would "promptly take appropriate measures" to implement the resolution. Baek Seung-Joo of the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses said the North test-fires missiles three to four times each year to improve technology and maintain missile exports. "Today's launches were part of a usual military drill but by firing 500 km-range Scuds, the North was clearly displaying its ability to strike back against any international sanctions involving military means," Baek said. He said, however, that there is no sign of the North preparing to fire another long-range missile in the near future. The North has made a series of bellicose moves this year. A long-range rocket launch on April 5 was followed by a nuclear test -- the second since 2006 -- on May 25. In the days after its atomic test, Pyongyang fired a total of six short-range missiles, renounced the truce in force on the Korean peninsula for half a century and threatened possible attacks on Seoul. When the United Nations in June tightened sanctions on its missile and atomic activities, the North vowed to build more nuclear bombs. US and South Korean officials believe ailing leader Kim Jong-Il, 67, is staging a show of strength to bolster his authority as he tries to put in place a succession plan involving his youngest son, Kim Jong-Un. North Korea test-fired a long-range Taepodong-2 missile, along with several short- and mid-range missiles, on US Independence Day in 2006. Its latest nuclear test coincided with the US Memorial Day holiday.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

India's swine flu death rate is increasing

Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...

Suicide bombings kill 18 in Iraq

Thursday, August 13, 2009 MOSUL: At least 18 people, most of them members of the ancient Yazidi religious sect, were killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up on Thursday in a packed cafe in northern Iraq, a local government official said.At least 31 people were also wounded after the bombers detonated suicide belts packed with explosives in the cafe in Kalaa town, in the district of Sanjar, local district chief Dakheel Qassem Hasoon, told a foreign news agency."Two suicide bombers entered the Cafe Barbaroz at 4:30 pm (1330 GMT) and blew themselves up, killing 18 civilians and wounding 31. Most of the victims were Yazidis," Hasoon said.Kalaa, northwest of the insurgent stronghold of Mosul in northern Nineveh province is predominantly populated by the minority Yazidi religious sect, as well as Arabs and Kurds.The attack is the deadliest since Monday, when 51 people were killed across Iraq, including 28 members of the tiny Shabak sect cut down when two truck bombs det...

US drones to target Taliban in Afghan war

Friday, July 31, 2009 WASHINGTON: The US military plans to use more drone aircraft to target Taliban militants in Afghanistan while focusing less on hunting down Al-Qaeda figures, report said on Thursday.Although defeating the Al-Qaeda terror network remains an overriding goal for Washington, officials now believe the best way to pursue that objective is to ensure stability in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan instead of Al-Qaeda manhunts, the paper said, citing US government and Defense Department officials.It was more important to prevent a slide towards violence and anarchy that could be exploited by Al-Qaeda, which used Afghanistan to stage its attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the officials said."We might still be too focused on Bin Laden," an official said. "We should probably reassess our priorities."The shift in priorities for the drone fleet comes despite President Barack Obama's declaration that defeating and dismantling Al-Qaeda ...