"Apologize? Like hell I will."
Posted on 03/02/2005 9:07:12 PM PST by neverdem
By REUTERS
Filed at 10:30 p.m. ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea threatened to resume long-range missile testing and demanded the United States apologize for calling the country ``an outpost of tyranny,'' official media reported late on Wednesday.
The Korean-language version of a Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report quoted a Foreign Ministry statement as saying Pyongyang threatened to test-fire a long-range missile.
The statement said North Korea did not feel bound by a 1999 moratorium on missile testing, reached when Pyongyang was in non-proliferation talks with the administration of then U.S. president Bill Clinton.
``There is now no binding force for us on the moratorium on missile testing,'' the Korean-language report said. ``We are not legally bound by an international treaty, or anything else on the missile issue.''
The North said its dialogue with the United States ended with the start of the Bush administration in 2001 and that meant it now had the right to resume missile testing.
Pyongyang slammed the Bush administration for first branding North Korea part of an ``axis of evil'' and more recently describing it as an outpost of tyranny.
WANTS AN APOLOGY
It called on Washington to apologize.
``How can we sit at the negotiating table with the U.S. given that the U.S. has rejected the government of the DPRK (North Korea),'' KCNA reported.
On Feb. 10., North Korea officially announced for the first time that it had nuclear weapons and said it was pulling out of six-party talks aimed at curbing its nuclear ambitions.
It cited Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's designation of North Korea as one of the ``outposts of tyranny'' during her Senate confirmation in January.
The North said that statement was evidence that Washington had not abandoned its ``hostile'' policy toward North Korea, first made manifest when President Bush famously grouped North Korea, Iran and prewar Iraq in an ``axis of evil.''
The English-language version of the KCNA report, however, did not contain the missile-testing threat and held out the possibility of a return to six-party disarmament talks ``if the U.S. takes a trustworthy and sincere attitude.''
That was similar to language it used on Feb. 22 when North Korean leader Kim Jong-il hinted he might be willing to return to the talks.
SHOCK 1998 TEST
North Korea sent shockwaves through Asia in 1998 when it fired a ballistic missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. The Taepodong 1 missile is believed to have a range of up to 1,550 miles.
It has also tested and deployed the Rodong 1 missile with a range of about 1,000 km. The North is also thought to be developing missiles capable of reaching the western United States.
North Korea's official media on Feb 22 quoted leader Kim Jong-il as telling a high-powered envoy from the North's main benefactor, China, his nation could return to the six-way talks if the conditions were right and Washington showed sincerity.
The top Chinese negotiator to the North Korean nuclear talks met his U.S. counterpart on Thursday in Seoul in a bid to restart the stalled negotiations.
Wu Dawei, who met South Korean officials on Wednesday, held discussions with U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill for talks that were closed to reporters. No details of the discussions were made available.
South and North Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia met for three inconclusive rounds of the talks. A fourth round planned for late last year never materialized.
the next one they test , we should shoot it down
give them a wake up call....
I'm so sick or words. Let's fight already.
BINGO, and we have that ability deployed in the Sea of Japan as we speak.
A few days ago they were ready to get back to discussions, now they're throwing tantrums again. These people are comical schizo's.
"Apologize? Like hell I will."
Thank you Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. And honorable mention to the fetching Ms. Albright.
Dear Kim Jong-il,
BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHAAAAAHHAHAAAAAAA!
Sincerely,
WE THE PEOPLE
Live tests always are more indicitave of progress than staged tests. Failure will even be a triumph because of what we learn....and the message sent to NK..ie: next time we won't fail....and your technology is puny.
That would be a great vindication for our missile shield both domestically and internationally.
How do we know their "test" is a test...really? [hee hee..] I say use a launch from N Korea as a "test" of our sub launched ballistic nuclear missiles and turn NK into glass in retaliation for their obvious preemptive nuclear strike on the US or Japan.
Of course, that's probably why I am not in charge.
Of course, that is precisely why I would vote for you to be in charge!
Where is Kim Jong Il lately? Getting shot at by his son-in-law?
All it takes is a quick destabilization of that country and the 'terror' is over. I give NK till 2006.
That's exactly what I was thinking .. let 'em have their stinkin' test - and we'll shoot the stupid thing out of the sky!!
Actually, honestly, I will we would do that - I'm fed up with this threat every other day.
Next one they fire in our direction, we should assume it has a nuke and erase North Korea. They said they have nukes now, let us take them at their word.
Heh, heh...never thought I'd say this, but, Go Navy! Knock those North Korean missiles out of the sky!
Let's put the Navy Aegis ships in international waters near NK and shoot down the test missile just to shove it in their face!
well let's hope that the Joint Chiefs read Free Republic and
like some of our ideas !
Personally, I hope they do test one. It would by far be the most ignorant move he could make.
It would remove all doubt as to whether or not N. Korea possesses nuclear weapons.
It would more than likely absolve the US from having to take any unilateral actions as a result because other nations including Japan, China and South Korea would be forced to take a more serious and hard lined approach towards the Kim regime.
It would bolster the United States call for Japan to rearm and play a more strategic role in regional affairs which would help in adding some counter weight against the growing threat of China.
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