South Korean expresses concern about prospect of arms race

North Korea's quest for nuclear weapons could spawn a destabilising arms race in Asia that would threaten world security, South Korea's president warned today.

"North Korea pursuing nuclear weapons capabilities is a threat, and of course this will tempt others in the region, thereby threatening global peace and security as well," President Lee Myung-bak told a reception at his residence.

President Lee, who spoke a day after returning from the United States where he met President Barack Obama, also warned against the destructive potential of nuclear weapons as well as possible proliferation.

"If such nuclear technology falls into the wrong hands our everyday lives will be filled with continuous fear and anxiety," he told business and economic leaders who had participated in a two-day event in Seoul sponsored by the World Economic Forum.

President Lee's comments highlighted two key worries about North Korea's atomic ambitions, namely that countries such as Japan and South Korea might move to develop their own arsenals if North Korea's program is not stopped and that the North may sell its technology to others.

His remarks came as the United States says it has deployed anti-missile defences around Hawaii, following reports that North Korea is preparing to fire its most advanced ballistic missile in that direction to coincide with the US Independence Day holiday next month.

Last week, the communist regime vowed to bolster its nuclear arsenal and threatened war to protest UN sanctions in the wake of its May 25 nuclear test, the country's second. It conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006, and there are suspicions it is preparing for a third.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates yesterday said the military has set up additional defences around Hawaii, consisting of a ground-based mobile missile system and a radar system nearby. Together they could shoot an incoming missile in midair.

Mr Gates spoke after Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported that North Korea might test-fire a Taepodong-2 missile with a range of up to 4,000 miles, sometime around the US Independence Day holiday on July 4.

Yomiuri said the missile, which could be launched from North Korea's Tongchang-ri site, would fly over Japan but would not be able to reach Hawaii, which is about 4,500 miles from the Korean peninsula.

North Korea test-fired a similar long-range missile on July 4 three years ago, but it failed seconds after lift-off.

A spokesman for the Japanese Defence Ministry declined to comment on Yomiuri's report, which cited an analysis by Japan's Defence Ministry and intelligence gathered by US reconnaissance satellites.

South Korea's government also remained silent on the report, but made a general appeal to North Korea to follow international norms.

"We hope that North Korea, first of all (will) give up nuclear ambitions and abide by the agreement that we made in 1992 - that is, a basic agreement for denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula," South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo told reporters.

The sanctions mandated by the UN Security Council resolution on North Korea call on all 192 UN member states to inspect vessels on the high seas - with the owner country's approval - if they believe the cargo contains banned weapons.

In what would be the first test case for the sanctions, the US military has begun tracking a North Korean-flagged ship, Kang Nam, which left a port in North Korea on Wednesday, two US officials said.

The ship, which may be carrying illicit weapons, was in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of China yesterday, the officials said.

It was uncertain what the Kang Nam was carrying, but it has been involved in weapons proliferation before, one of the officials said.