EU urges North Korea to abandon missile test

The European Union today appealed to North Korea to cancel apparent plans for test firing a long-range ballistic missile, an issue that has caused tensions in Eastern Asia to flare.

The international community needs to “talk very clearly, very strongly to North Korea” to get it to cancel the missile test, EU foreign and security affairs chief Javier Solana said in Vienna, Austria.

“We must say that what they are trying to do … will have consequences,” Solana said.

US President George Bush, meanwhile, has arrived in Vienna for a trans-Atlantic summit.

North Korea has said it wants direct talks with the US regarding its apparent missile test plans.

The US and Japan have said they could consider sanctions against the impoverished country if it goes ahead, and Washington was contemplating to shoot the missile down.

Today, a spokesman for former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung cited the missile crisis as the reason for cancelling a trip next week to the North that could have offered a rare chance for talks to soothe tensions.