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North Korea fires missile into sea
Edited for length.
North Korea has fired a missile into the sea between Japan and the Korean peninsula just hours before South Korea's new president was sworn into office. In what correspondents called a provocative move, the missile hit international waters in the Sea of Japan on the eve of President Roh Moo-hyun's inauguration. Guests including US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi are in Seoul to attend the ceremony. The incident prompted sharp stock market falls in both South Korea and Japan. It remains unclear what kind of missile was fired, although some reports said it was a Silkworm land-to-sea device, a short-range missile of Chinese design.
Didn't they have anything more impressive? Thrown the spoon from the high chair, only got spittle left...
President Roh whistled in the wind used his inauguration speech to urge North Korea to renounce its nuclear ambitions, the source of much recent regional tension. "It is up to Pyongyang whether to go ahead and obtain nuclear weapons or to get guarantees for the security of its regime and international economic support," he said. The missile test is an immediate headache for the former human rights lawyer, who is a novice in global affairs.
Is that surprising for a North korean? If I called that place home I'd be preoccupied with my immediate neighbours too.
Mr Roh does not agree with Washington's policy of isolating the North and has publicly said he opposes the use of force to resolve the nuclear crisis. "If we give them what they desperately want - regime security, normal treatment and economic assistance - they will be willing to give up their nuclear ambitions," Mr Roh told Newsweek magazine.
Oh, now we see what "novice in global affairs" was referring to...
Mr Roh was swept to election victory on a wave of anti-US protests, and has called for a review of the status of the 37,000 American troops in the country, although he has stressed that he is not anti-American, just pro-Dear Leader.

North Korea has had a moratorium on testing long-range missiles since 1998. That was introduced following widespread international alarm when Pyongyang's military fired a multi-stage rocket over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. Pyongyang's number two leader Kim Yong Nam, in Malaysia for the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, said in a speech on Tuesday that "at this stage" North Korea's nuclear activities would be confined to peaceful purposes.
That mean they're gonna use them on Kimmy?!
Posted by: Bulldog 2003-02-25
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=10622