Missile tests follow N Korea nuke blast
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Daily News with wires
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 27, 2009 00:00
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea reportedly tested two more short-range missiles yesterday, thumbing its nose at global powers just hours after the U.N. Security Council condemned the regime's provocative nuclear test.
Pyongyang also warned ships to stay away from waters off its western coast this week, a sign the country may be gearing up for more missile tests, South Korea's coast guard said.
North Korea appeared to be displaying its might a day after conducting an underground atomic test in the northeast that the U.N. Security Council condemned as a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution banning the regime from developing its nuclear program.
France called for new sanctions, while the U.S. and Japan pushed for strong action against North Korea for testing a bomb that Russian officials said was comparable in power to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
Russia, once a key backer of North Korea, condemned the test.
Moscow's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current Security Council president, said the 15-member council would begin work "quickly" on a new resolution, according a report by The Associated Press.
Asian and European foreign ministers yesterday jointly condemned the first test on Monday and called on Pyongyang to return to six-nation disarmament talks.
Even China, a permanent member of the Security Council and the North's sole main ally, was strongly critical. "Disregarding the common objections of the international community, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has again tested a nuclear device," Agence France-Presse quoted the statement of Chinese foreign ministry as saying. "The Chinese government expresses its resolute opposition to this," it said.
But many questioned whether new punishment would have any effect on a nation already penalized by numerous sanctions and clearly dismissive of the Security Council's jurisdiction. North Korea's test of a long-range missile in July 2006 and its first nuclear test in October 2006 drew stiff sanctions from the Security Council and orders to refrain from engaging in ballistic missile-related activity and to stop developing its nuclear program. Ignoring the missile ban, North Korea went ahead and launched a long-range rocket on April 5. The Security Council reacted then with a censure but not sanctions, which North Korea's traditional allies, Russia and China, opposed.
South Korea, meanwhile, announced it would join a maritime web of more than 90 nations that intercept ships suspected of spreading weapons of mass destruction Ğ a move North Korea warned would constitute an act of war.
North Korea appeared to be displaying its might a day after conducting an underground atomic test in the northeast that the U.N. Security Council condemned as a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution banning the regime from developing its nuclear program.
France called for new sanctions, while the U.S. and Japan pushed for strong action against North Korea for testing a bomb that Russian officials said was comparable in power to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
Russia, once a key backer of North Korea, condemned the test.
Moscow's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current Security Council president, said the 15-member council would begin work "quickly" on a new resolution, according a report by The Associated Press.
Asian and European foreign ministers yesterday jointly condemned the first test on Monday and called on Pyongyang to return to six-nation disarmament talks.
Even China, a permanent member of the Security Council and the North's sole main ally, was strongly critical. "Disregarding the common objections of the international community, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has again tested a nuclear device," Agence France-Presse quoted the statement of Chinese foreign ministry as saying. "The Chinese government expresses its resolute opposition to this," it said.
But many questioned whether new punishment would have any effect on a nation already penalized by numerous sanctions and clearly dismissive of the Security Council's jurisdiction. North Korea's test of a long-range missile in July 2006 and its first nuclear test in October 2006 drew stiff sanctions from the Security Council and orders to refrain from engaging in ballistic missile-related activity and to stop developing its nuclear program. Ignoring the missile ban, North Korea went ahead and launched a long-range rocket on April 5. The Security Council reacted then with a censure but not sanctions, which North Korea's traditional allies, Russia and China, opposed.
South Korea, meanwhile, announced it would join a maritime web of more than 90 nations that intercept ships suspected of spreading weapons of mass destruction Ğ a move North Korea warned would constitute an act of war.