North Korea test-fires missile into sea

NORTH KOREA test-fired a short-range missile into the sea yesterday in what was seen as an attempt to raise tension further in the stand-off over its nuclear programmes and pressure the United States into talks.

The widely anticipated launch from a base on North Korea’s east coast fit a pattern of unusual military manoeuvres in recent weeks, including the North’s interception a week ago of a US reconnaissance plane.

“This is another show of North Korean brinkmanship,” said Yoon Dong-min, of the state-funded Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Seoul. “They are trying to raise the stakes in the nuclear stand-off and trying to get the upper hand ahead of possible talks with the United States,” Yoon said. North Korea wants a non-aggression treaty and economic aid from the US, but Washington says the UN Security Council should handle the nuclear problem.

In Washington, top Bush administration officials said the time still isn’t ripe for one-on-one talks with North Korea and any lasting solution to the nuclear dispute will need the support of Russia, China and other nations.

“I think eventually we will be talking to North Korea, but we’re not going to simply fall into what I believe is bad practice of saying the only way you can talk to us is directly, when it affects other nations in the region,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said on CNN’s “Late Edition.” Powell said that, during his visit to the United Nations last week, he worked with diplomats to develop a multinational approach to North Korea. Democrats are pressing the Bush administration to begin direct talks immediately.

National security adviser Condoleezza Rice said the United States isn’t afraid to talk, “but we need to do so in a way that will bring maximum pressure on North Korea to actually this time not just freeze its weapons of mass destruction, but begin to dismantle them.”

There had been indications that North Korea was planning to fire a missile. The Pentagon earlier cited a North Korean warning to ships to stay out of a sector off the east coast from Saturday to today.