Saturday, June 17, 2006
North Korea has denied a South Korean report.
TOKYO (AP) -- The United States and Japan urged North Korea not to proceed with reported plans to test-fire a long-range missile that could reach the U.S. mainland, saying Saturday that a launch would be dangerous and provocative.
But North Korean officials later denied such preparations, the Kyodo News agency reported, citing a South Korean official it did not identify.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso met Saturday night amid mounting speculation the North could soon test a Taepodong-2 missile capable of reaching the United States with a light payload.
South Korean media reports said the North had loaded booster rockets onto a launch pad in preparation for the test.
After the meeting, Schieffer reiterated Washington's stance that the test would be a dangerous act that would hurt North Korean interests. The North has been under a self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile tests since 1999.
Hoping to resume negotiations
"We hope that the North Koreans will not take this provocative action. We hope that they will return to the six-party talks," Schieffer said, referring to international talks aiming to get North Korea to give up its nuclear program.
Those talks -- involving the United States, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia -- have been stalled by a North Korean boycott.
A launch "will only isolate the North Koreans further from the rest of the international community," he said.
Schieffer said Washington was working with allies on how to respond if North Korea goes ahead with the launch, but he refused to be specific, saying only that "all options are on the table."
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said a North Korean launch would violate a moratorium on long-range missile tests declared in 1999 by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
"This would be yet another instance of North Korea violating the international commitments it has made," she said.
Aso told reporters that the situation was "serious" and that North Korea had been warned not to fire the missile. "How we will respond depends on what North Korea does," he said.
Japan has grown increasingly tense as news reports emerge that Pyongyang could soon launch the missile. North Korea fired a missile over northern Japan into the Pacific Ocean in 1998, and the move spurred Tokyo to work with Washington on a missile defense system.
A U.S. government official told The Associated Press on Friday that a test of the Taepodong-2 may be imminent. The Washington official agreed to speak but only on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported Saturday that North Korea also moved about 10 fuel tanks to the launch site in preparation for the test.
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