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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