Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Issues 2012
Candidates 2012
Tales from the Trail
Political Punchlines
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
David Cay Johnston
Bethany McLean
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Mohamed El-Erian
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Jack & Suzy Welch
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (0)
Full Focus
Photos of the week
Our top photos from the past week. Full Article
Images of February
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Apple to decide on its $98 billion cash pile
|
2:18am EDT
Dozens arrested at Occupy's 6-month anniversary rally
18 Mar 2012
Afghan shooting suspect called to duty again and again
18 Mar 2012
Bangladesh's "teenage" brothels hold dark steroid secret
18 Mar 2012
Romney sweeps Puerto Rico primary contest
18 Mar 2012
Discussed
153
Exclusive: U.S., Britain to agree emergency oil stocks release
128
Dozens arrested at Occupy’s 6-month anniversary rally
125
UPDATE 4-Obama defends energy policies amid gas price pain
Watched
Egypt mourns Coptic pope
Sun, Mar 18 2012
Syria is moving toward full-blown civil war - Fast Forward
Fri, Mar 16 2012
NASA images show Aurora Borealis over North America.
Sat, Mar 17 2012
South Korea says North wants rocket for nuclear weapon
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
China exerts rare public pressure on North Korea over missile plan
Sat, Mar 17 2012
N.Korea's plan for rocket launch stirs regional concern
Fri, Mar 16 2012
U.N. chief urges North Korea to reconsider satellite launch
Fri, Mar 16 2012
South Korea says North's "satellite" launch a U.N. resolution breach
Fri, Mar 16 2012
U.S.-Korea free trade pact takes effect amid controversy
Thu, Mar 15 2012
Analysis & Opinion
10 years of fund industry evolution: Lipper
Beneath the radar, a Russia-Pakistan entente takes shape
Related Topics
World »
South Korea »
North Korea »
Models of a North Korean Scud-B missile (R) and South Korean missiles are displayed at the Korean War Memorial Museum in Seoul March 16, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Lee Jae-Won
By Jeremy Laurence
SEOUL |
Mon Mar 19, 2012 1:29am EDT
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea on Monday condemned rival North Korea's planned rocket launch as a "grave provocation", saying it was a disguised attempt to develop a long-range ballistic missile capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
Seoul also extended a security alert in the capital, and said it was concerned the North might follow the ballistic missile launch with another nuclear test.
The North announced on Friday it would put a satellite into orbit next month barely two weeks after reaching an agreement with Washington to suspend long-range missile launches as part of a deal to restart food aid.
"Our government defines North Korea's so-called working satellite launch plan as a grave provocation to develop a long-distance delivery means for nuclear weapons by using ballistic missile technology," presidential spokesman Park Jung-ha said in a statement.
Washington says the North's long-range ballistic missile program is progressing quickly, and last year said the American mainland could come under threat within five years.
The secretive North has twice tested a nuclear device, but experts doubt whether it yet has the ability to miniaturize an atomic bomb to place atop a warhead.
Pyongyang is believed to have enough fissile material to make up to a dozen nuclear bombs, and in 2010 unveiled a uranium enrichment facility to go with its plutonium program which opened a second route to making an atomic weapon.
On Monday, President Lee Myung-bak met the foreign and security-related ministers to discuss the North's surprise announcement, which also flies in the face of a U.N. Security Council resolution banning long-range missile launches.
Park said in a statement that Seoul would work closely with the United States, Japan, China and Russia - all members of the six-party forum which deals with the North's nuclear program - during next week's Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul.
North Korea's weapons of mass destruction program is not on the agenda for the summit, but will be one of the major talking points on the sidelines of the meeting involving some 50 world leaders including Barack Obama and Hu Jintao.
SEOUL DEFENCE ALERT
The South's defense ministry said it had established a team to monitor the rocket launch and would maintain a heightened defense alert for the Security Summit in Seoul through to the rocket launch, scheduled for between April 12 and 16.
Ministry spokesman Yoon Won-shik told reporters that Seoul and Washington would use "surveillance assets" to watch the missile base in Tongchang-ri and follow the flight path after it is launched.
The North says the flight will not impact neighbors.
Yoon said authorities were also on alert in case the North follows up the rocket launch with a nuclear test, as it did in 2009.
Ties between the two Koreas, which are still technically at war, having only signed an armistice to end the 1950-53 Korean War, have hit their lowest level for decades since conservative Lee Myung-bak won the presidency in 2008.
Political analysts say the launch is aimed at boosting the legitimacy of the North's young new ruler, Kim Jong-un, who inherited power after his father's death in December.
The North on Sunday defended the launch, saying, "The peaceful development and use of space is a universally recognized legitimate right of a sovereign state."
Pyongyang says it is using the rocket to launch a satellite to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the country's founding ruler and grandfather of the current ruler.
INTERNATIONAL CONCERN
The launch threatens to derail a food aid deal the North struck with Washington last month. Then, Pyongyang agreed to suspend nuclear tests, missile launches and uranium enrichment and to allow nuclear inspectors into the country.
More troubling, perhaps, for Pyongyang, which is long accustomed to trading invective with Washington, China has called the planned launch a "worry" in a rare attempt to put public pressure on its impoverished ally.
Japan would do its best to prevent any damage from a launch, the country's defense minister said.
"Depending on the situation, we would consider deploying PAC3 missile interceptors and Aegis ships," Naoki Tanaka told lawmakers in the upper house of parliament, according to broadcaster NHK.
"Considering what happened in 2009, we are prepared to do our utmost to prevent any damage to Okinawa and the rest of the country," he said, in reply to a query from an Okinawa lawmaker.
In April 2009, North Korea conducted a ballistic rocket launch that resulted in a new round of U.N. sanctions, squeezing the secretive state's already troubled economy and deepening its isolation.
That launch was dismissed as a failure after the first stage fell into the Sea of Japan without placing a satellite in orbit. Another test failed in similar circumstances in 1998.
(Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul and Stanley White in Tokyo; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
World
South Korea
North Korea
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Advertise With Us
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.