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Continuing N. Korean missile buildup worries Seoul

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, March 5, 2001

TOKYO — North Korea's continued missile buildup has put South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung in an awkward position and will be high on the agenda when meets President Bush on Wednesday.

On Friday, the South Korean Chosun daily reported that North Korea has doubled the deployment of its Rodong-1 missiles. The newspaper said Pyongyang's current arsenal of the missile — which is also referred to as the No-Dong — has reached more than 100 since 1999. The missile has a range of 1,300 kilometers, the newspaper said.

Quoting a senior government source, the newspaper said Pyongyang also conducted up to four engine tests of its Taepo Dong-2 ballistic missile, estimated at having a range of more than 4,000 kilometers.

Kim made news last week when in a statement with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin, he implicitly criticized the Bush administration's missile defense plan when he called for the upholding of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. His government issued a statement later stating that Kim's remarks had been misinterpreted.

When the two leaders meet on Wednesday, Kim is expected to urge Bush to continue U.S. policy of providing incentives to Pyongyang to end its missile and nonconventional weapons programs.

"The global security environment today is different from that during the Cold War and thus requires a different approach," South Korean Foreign Minister Lee Joung-Binn said. "We have confidence in the leadership of President Bush as he pursues and develops this issue. We hope that the United States government will proceed with this matter in such a way as to strengthen global peace and security through full consultation with its allies and other related countries."

Monday, March 5, 2001


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