North Korean missile test innocuous and not surprising, says Powell

US SECRETARY OF STATE Colin Powell downplayed the significance of a North Korean missile test yesterday, describing it as “fairly innocuous” and “not surprising.”

Speaking hours after the South Korean Defence Ministry announced that communist North Korea had fired an anti-ship missile into the Sea of Japan, Powell said US officials had heard signs that such a launch was impending and said it was “not surprising.”

“It seems to be a fairly innocuous kind of test,” he told reporters after attending the inauguration ceremony for new South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. South Korean and US officials said the missile was apparently a small, short-range missile and not the long-range ballistic missile that are believed to have a range of Japan and beyond. The communist regime’s deputy leader yesterday tried to assure a summit of worried developing world leaders that Pyongyang is not developing nuclear weapons “at this stage.”