South Korea accuses Pyongyang of developing nuclear missiles
South Korea today (March 19) accused the Democratic People's Republic of Korea of trying to develop a missile that can carry nuclear warheads, through a satellite launch next month.
"Our government views what North Korea calls a satellite launch as a serious provocation aimed at developing a long-range delivery vehicle for nuclear weapons using ballistic missile technology," South Korea's official news agency Yonhap quoted Park Jeong-Ha, a spokesman for the South Korean president, as saying.
South Korean tanks during a live-fire exercise on March 15. The situation on the Korean peninsula became tense after Pyongyang's satellite launch plan.
- Photo: AFP
Previously, on March 16, Pyongyang announced that it would launch the Unha-3 rocket between April 12 and 16 to put an observation satellite named Kwangmyongsong-3 into orbit, in an event the country said was for peaceful purposes and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of late leader Kim Il Sung.
This plan has caused strong reactions from the US, South Korea, and Japan, who believe that the satellite launch plan is an act to cover up the test firing of a long-range missile, and it has seriously violated the ban of the United Nations Security Council under Resolution 1874 in 2009.
At the same time, the missile launch also violated the agreement between the DPRK and the US on Pyongyang stopping all nuclear weapons development and long-range missile launches in exchange for Washington providing 240,000 tons of food.
According toYonhap, South Korea's latest accusation came after a meeting between the country's president, Lee Myung-Bak, and his defense and foreign ministers.
South Korea also announced that it will cooperate closely with the United States, Japan, China, Russia and the European Union to address the issue during the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit from March 26-27.
According to Thanhnien
