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Pyongyang warns Seoul against missile defense

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, May 14, 2001

WASHINGTON — North Korea has warned South Korea not to participate in any U.S.-sponsored missile shield. "If the South Korean authorities get involved in this, persistently pursuing the policy of military confrontation and escalating tensions in violation of the joint declaration, they will get nothing but ruin and death," the official North Korean Rodung Sinmun daily said.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration has little hope that missile exports to the Middle East from North Korea will end, Middle East Newsline reported.

U.S. officials said Pyongyang regards missile exports as vital for its economy which is starved for hard currency. The officials said missile exports constitute up to several hundred million dollars a year in revenues.

"Regarding the continued sales, it seems to suggest to us the desperate financial straits that is in," Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said.

Pyongyang has stressed to Western diplomats that it is willing to extend a moratorium on the testing of intermediate- and long-range missiles. But the officials said North Korea has ruled out any suspension of missile exports.

North Korea is regarded as the leading missile exporter. Its main customers are in the Middle East. They include Egypt, Iran, Libya and Syria.

U.S. officials said North Korea's neighbors, such as Japan and South Korea, also don't expect any change in Pyongyang's missile export policies. Last week, a U.S. delegation toured both countries.

Monday, May 14, 2001


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