YONHAP NEWS

U.S. warns N. Korea against long-range missile test

   By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (Yonhap) -- The United States warned Wednesday that any long-range missile test by North Korea would violate a United Nations ban, while refusing to confirm that Pyongyang actually did conduct a recent test.

   "I don't have any further information for you on those news reports of tests of an engine that would be suitable for a long-range ballistic missile," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "I would only note, as I did yesterday, that any work in that regard would be contrary and in contravention of U.N. Security Resolution 1718."
McCormack was responding to the report that North Korea has tested an intercontinental missile engine at its new launch site under construction on its west coast.

   South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee told a parliamentary committee last week that the new launch site is about 80 percent complete.

   Reports have said North Korea has been building a mobile launch pad and a 10-story tower capable of launching intercontinental ballistic missiles that could possibly reach the U.S. west coast.

   The Security Council adopted a resolution in 2006 demanding that the North "suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program," and abandon its missile program in a "complete, verifiable and irreversible manner."
The resolution was issued soon after North Korea test fired a long-range missile in a break from its voluntary moratorium on missile testing imposed in 1998 to defuse international criticism after parts of a ballistic missile fell into the sea off Alaska.

   Alarmed by the North's surprisingly robust missile capabilities, the Clinton administration sent Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to Pyongyang to arrange a summit meeting between Clinton and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

   Pyongyang and Washington agreed to a summit on the North's missile and nuclear issues, but Clinton failed to visit Pyongyang, citing a lack of time in the waning months of his term.

   On the reported health failure of Kim Jong-il, McCormack said, "Nor do I have any further comment on Kim Jong Il's health."
The spokesman urged North Korea to produce an agreement on verification of the disablement of its nuclear reactor.

   "And in order to move the process forward now, what you need to see is North Korea act on the verification protocol," he said. "We obviously keep open channels of communication with all the parties to the six-party talks and try to move the process forward."
McCormack was talking about the deadlock over the verification protocol in the multilateral nuclear talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.

   hdh@yna.co.kr
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