Ministry confirms North’s missile test

The Ministry of National Defense confirmed yesterday that North Korea had fired a surface-to-surface missile into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) the day before President Roh Moo-hyun was inaugurated here.
Brigadier General Hwang Young-soo, the Defense Ministry spokesman, said the exact type of missile had not been confirmed and that the ministry was trying to determine whether the launch was part of the North Korean military’s regular training exercises or a test of its arsenal of antiship missiles. Short-range missile tests have been a regular part of the North’s winter training exercises, General Hwang said.
The missile launch was the first, however, after the North had declared a suspension of missile test-firings in 1999. In 1998, the North launched a multistage missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean. Monday’s launch followed several days of increasingly bellicose words and deeds from Pyeongyang, although exchanges with South Korea continued. A North Korean fighter jet intruded into South Korean air space recently, and Pyeongyang reacted to news reports of U.S. plans for a naval cordon around the country by threatening to withdraw from the Korean War armistice agreement.
An intelligence official had told the JoongAng Ilbo late Monday night that the missile had landed about 60 kilometers off the coast of South Hamgyeong province.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell brushed aside the incident when asked asked about it here yesterday. “It seems to be a fairly innocuous kind of test,” he said, adding that there were earlier indications that such a test would take place.
The missile launch was followed by a North Korean announcement yesterday that a U.S. reconnaissance plane had flown into its air space off the east coast on Monday in preparation for a preemptive strike.

by Lee Chul-hee