Could it be that global concern over North Korea’s upcoming launch of a rocket capable of carrying a nuclear warhead is just a great big misunderstanding? According to this surprisingly conciliatory news item from the state-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry insists that the launch, which it maintains is for peaceful purposes, was not part of the deal it signed with Washington last month, and in any case has no military purpose.
The news item from the Korean Central News Agency says in part:
The chief executive of the United States called the DPRK’s planned launch of a satellite in the pursuit of peaceful scientific and technological development a provocation and threat to international peace and security. This is a misperception on his part.
The United States may claim that it harbors no hostility toward the DPRK, but it has yet to alter its inveterate notion of confrontation. That is the reason it regards a peaceful satellite launch as a test of a long-range missile.
The DPRK invited foreign experts and journalists to observe the satellite launch for themselves, so as to transparently prove the peaceful nature of this scientific and technological operation, and that it is to utilize space irrelevant to any military purpose. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea also invited experts from America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration in order for them to witness the peaceful nature of the satellite launch for themselves.
The agreement signed by the two countries on February 29 specified a moratorium on long-range missile launches, not “satellite launches” or “all launches that utilize ballistic missile technology.”
The U.S. chief executive says that he has no hostility toward the DPRK. If he was sincere, he would drop America’s confrontational notion of standing in the way of the DPRK, and belatedly acknowledge its right to launch satellites.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, your most trusted translator and aggregator of foreign news and views about our nation.
Founder and Managing Editor of Worldmeets.US