North Korea urged to suspend missile test launch

The US and Japan both urged North Korea to suspend preparations for a test-launch of a long-range missile today, and called on it to return to stalled talks on dismantling its nuclear weapons programme.

The two allies made the show of unity amid mounting speculation that North Korea may abandon its self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile tests by launching a Taepodong-2, which is capable of reaching the US with a light payload.

Japanese and South Korean media reports said the North had loaded booster rockets onto a launch pad in preparation for a missile test, and could be planning an attempt to disguise the test as a satellite launch. One Japanese newspaper said a test could come as soon as Sunday, though other reports did not specify a day.

US Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer met with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso yesterday evening, and both issued statements telling North Korea that a launch would be widely criticised and would be against the impoverished nation’s interests.

“We hope that the North Koreans will not take this provocative action. We hope that they will return to the six-party talks,” Schieffer said, referring to six-nation negotiations on the North’s nuclear programme. A launch “will only isolate the North Koreans further from the rest of the international community,” he said.

The nuclear talks have been stalled since last year by a North Korean boycott. The nations taking part are China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the US.

Schieffer said Washington was working with allies on how to respond if North Korea goes ahead with a missile launch, but refused to be specific, saying only that “all options are on the table.”

Aso told reporters that the situation was “serious” and that North Korea had been warned not to fire the missile.

“How they respond is up to them,” he said.

Japan has grown increasingly tense as news reports said North Korea could soon test launch a missile.

Tokyo was badly rattled in 1998 when North Korea fired a missile over northern Japan into the Pacific Ocean, and the move spurred Tokyo to work with Washington - which has 50,000 troops based in Japan – on a joint missile defence system.

The South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported Saturday that North Korea also moved about 10 fuel tanks to the launch site in preparation for a test, while Japan’s conservative Sankei Shimbun said the North could launch a missile as early as Sunday, citing unnamed government officials.

Sankei also said Japan has dispatched two Aegis destroyers to the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean. Hidetsugu Iwamasa, a Japanese naval official, said he could not comment on the reported Aegis deployment, citing security concerns.