International condemnation for North Korea

North Korea fired a flurry of missiles into the sea today in what was widely seen as a bid to pressure Washington into addressing demands for economic aid and other concessions amid a long-running nuclear stand-off.

The missile tests triggered alarm in foreign capitals, and the UN Security Council planned to hold an emergency meeting later today in a test of whether it can forge a united response to North Korea’s provocation.

The crisis comes as world leaders try to defuse another stand-off, urging Iran to accept Western incentives in exchange for the suspension of nuclear activities.

Iran has drawn much of the international spotlight in recent weeks because of concern over its suspected nuclear weapons programme, and analysts and officials said North Korea’s missile barrage was an effort to grab attention in the way that it knows best: diplomatic brinkmanship.

“I think it is an act of political pressure aimed at changing the situation (in its favour) on various issues, including the nuclear issue,” South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said.

The firing of at least half a dozen missiles, most of which fell harmlessly into the sea west of the Korean Peninsula, renewed American fears that North Korea was refining its alleged capability to hit the US mainland with a warhead. Japan, which is well within North Korean missile range, warned of possible economic sanctions against the reclusive regime.

US officials said North Korea fired a long-range Taepodong-2 early in the day, but that it failed shortly after take-off, while the other missiles were of a shorter range. Pyongyang last fired a long-range missile in 1998.

North Korea has a highly developed missile programme, but intelligence experts doubt the accuracy of the Taepodong-2 as well as the North’s ability to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile.

The bold firings came under close international scrutiny of the North’s missile launch facilities.

The North American Aerospace Defence Command monitored the launches as they progressed but soon determined they were not a threat to the United States, a spokesman said.

The chief of Russia’s general staff said that Russian tracking systems showed that Pyongyang may have launched up to 10 missiles during the day, the Interfax news agency reported.

North Korea was defiant, with a Foreign Ministry official telling Japanese journalists in Pyongyang that the regime there has an undeniable right to test missiles.

“The missile launch is an issue that is entirely within our sovereignty. No one has the right to dispute it,” Ri Pyong Dok, a researcher on Japanese affairs at the North’s Foreign Ministry, said on footage aired by Japanese television network TBS. “On the missile launch, we are not bound by any agreement.”

The US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said the UN Security Council must send a “strong and unanimous signal” that North Korea’s missile test-launch was unacceptable.

China’s UN Ambassador Wang Guangya said the launch was regrettable, and suggested Beijing would be willing to support some form of council action, though he didn’t say what.

Bolton and Wang were heading into an emergency council meeting where diplomats were to discuss a draft Japanese resolution that would likely condemn the North Korean missile launches.

Pyongyang could test additional missiles soon despite the international furore over today’s launches, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said after making a protest via telephone to North Korea’s ambassador to Canberra, Chon Jae Hong.

“We think they probably do intend to launch more missiles in the next day or two,” Downer told reporters, without explaining if the possibility of more tests came up in his talk with Chon.

South Korea, separated from the North by the world’s most heavily armed border, said the test launches would further deepen its neighbour’s international isolation, sour public opinion in the South toward Pyongyang and hurt efforts to control weapons of mass destruction.

The tests, which came as the United States celebrated its Independence Day holiday and launched the space shuttle Discovery from Cape Canaveral, Florida, appeared timed to draw the most attention from Washington.

“North Korea wants to get the US to direct bilateral negotiations by using the missile card,” said Paik Hak-soon, a North Korea expert at the Seoul-based Sejong Institute. “Timing the launch date on July 4 is an attempt to apply maximum pressure on the US government.”

The tests followed weeks of mounting speculation that North Korea would launch a Taepodong-2. US intelligence reports indicated Pyongyang was taking steps to prepare for a launch, but the timing was unknown. North Korea refused to confirm the preparations, but insisted it had the right to such a test.

The test was likely to cast a pall over efforts to lure North Korea back to stalled six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program. Pyongyang has boycotted the negotiations to protest against a US crackdown on alleged North Korean counterfeiting and other financial crimes.

The Taepodong-2 is North Korea’s most advanced missile, with a range of up to 9,000 miles.

Some experts believe it could reach the United States with a light payload.

The missiles all landed hundreds of miles away from Japan and there were no reports the missiles caused damage within Japanese territory, said Japanese spokesman Shinzo Abe.

North Korea’s missile programme is based on Scud technology provided by the former Soviet Union or Egypt, according to American and South orean officials.

North Korea started its Rodong-1 missile project in the late 1980s and test-fired the missile for the first time in 1993.

North Korea had observed a moratorium on long-range missile launches since 1999.