North Korea fires missiles in 4th of July salvo

2009-07-05 03:19:02 -

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea launched seven ballistic missiles into waters off its east coast in a show of military firepower that defied U.N. resolutions and drew global expressions of condemnation and concern.
Saturday's salvo, confirmed by the South Korean government, also appeared to be a slap at the United States as Washington moves to enforce U.N. as well as its own sanctions against the isolated regime for its May 25 nuclear test.
The launches came on July 4, which is U.S. Independence Day. The display was similar to one that took place three years ago, also while Americans celebrated the Fourth of July during another period of tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.
The number of missiles was the same, though in 2006 North Korea also launched a long-range rocket that broke apart and fell into the ocean less than a minute after liftoff.
South Korea said Saturday's missiles likely flew more than 250 miles (400 kilometers), apparently landing in waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan.
South Korea and Japan both condemned the launches, with Tokyo calling them a «serious act of provocation.» Britain and France issued similar statements.
Russia and China, both close to North Korea, expressed concern over an «escalation of tension in the region,» the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement after a meeting in Moscow.
In Washington, the White House had no immediate comment.
North Korea has engaged in a series of acts this year widely seen as provocative. It fired a long-range rocket it said was a satellite in early April, and in late May it carried out its second underground nuclear test following the first in late 2006.
The country has also stoked tensions with rival South Korea and last month threatened «thousand-fold» military retaliation against the U.S. and its allies if provoked.
South Korean officials said Saturday's launches came throughout the day and were part of military exercises. The North, which had warned ships to stay away from waters off the east coast through July 10, also fired what are believed to have been four short-range cruise missiles Thursday.
North Korea's state news agency did not mention the launches, so it was hard to grasp Pyongyang's true intentions. Officials and analysts, however, said they showed the country remains happy to stand up to the international community and appears unwilling to give in to efforts to punish it.
«I think it's a demonstration of their defiance and rejection of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874, for one thing, and to demonstrate their military power capabilities to any potential adversaries» as well as potential customers for its weapons, said Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group think tank.
Resolution 1874, which was approved last month and which condemned the North's nuclear test, was the third to be passed by the U.N. Security Council against the country since 2006. All three ban North Korea from launching ballistic missiles.
Analysts have said North Korea's saber rattling is partially aimed at pressuring Washington to engage in direct negotiations. North Korea is believed to desire diplomatic relations and a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War.
Paik Hak-soon, an expert on North Korea at the Sejong Institute, a think tank near Seoul, said North Korea will continue to carry out more missile and nuclear tests in the future, as long as relations with the U.S. and South Korea remain tense.
«The structure of confrontation is there, intact,» he said.
Associated Press writers Kwang-tae Kim, Jae-soon Chang in Seoul, Tomoko A. Hosaka in Tokyo, Jill Lawless in London, Elaine Ganley in Paris, Mansur Mirovalev in Moscow and Lara Jakes in Washington contributed to this report.