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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| N Korea 'test-fires five rockets' |
| 2009-10-13 |
| North Korea has test-fired five short-range missiles off the east coast of the peninsula, South Korea's Yonhap news agency has reported. The North had declared a "no-sail zone" off its east and west coasts for 10-20 October, Yonhap said. The launches come days after Pyongyang said it was willing to return to multi-party talks on its nuclear programme. The US secretary of state said the goal of the US and its allies would remain a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. Pressure has grown on North Korea to return to the multi-party talks since it conducted an underground nuclear test in May. The UN passed tougher sanctions against North Korea in response to the test. Pyongyang's recent willingness to return to talks it pulled out of in April may be due to it feeling the pinch of the international sanctions, some analysts say. Citing an unidentified South Korean government official, Yonhap reported the missiles were surface-to-surface KN-02 rockets with a range of up to 75 miles (120km). Two were launched in the morning, and another three in the afternoon, the agency said. The missile launches are the first since July. Speaking in Northern Ireland, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she had no further information about the launches. But she said the goals of the US and its allies "remain the same. We intend to work toward a nuclear-free Korean peninsula." "We have made a lot of progress with the other members of the six-party talks who joined us in the very strong sanctions against North Korea and who have been working with us to restart a process there," she said. Mrs Clinton said the consultation between the US and its allies was "unaffected" by North Korea's behaviour. "We pursue this goal like we pursue all of our national security goals: through obstacles, overcoming challenges; a persistent patience that doesn't have any guarantee of outcome," she added, according to AFP news agency. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Meanwhile, INDIA > wants to test-fire its new BRAHMOS as a SUB-LAUNCHED = UNDERWATER LRBM. * MVARIETY > RMI CHIEF STEPS UP FIGHT OVER US BASE [RMI = Republic of the Marshall Islands, local traditional Chief]. SAME > PALAU > seems the number of UIGHUR GITMO DETAINEES may be raised to ELEVEN. Regardless of the merits ala UIGHURS per se, 'tis a GATEWAY FOR SETTING UP OR ESTABLISHING FUTURE ISLAMIST RADICALISM ON OTHERWISE SLEEPY/QUIET PACIFIC ISLANDS [Mil-Terr violence]. Wehell, iff I haven't thanked PALAU YET, + AMERICA = AMERIKA, THERES A REASON. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-10-13 00:43 |