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SKorea moves to join anti-proliferation drill: official
Seoul (AFP) April 2, 2009 South Korea will "actively consider" joining a US-led initiative to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction if North Korea goes ahead with its rocket launch, the foreign ministry said Thursday. North Korea has warned that the South's participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) would amount to a declaration of war. "We're actively considering taking part in PSI in case the North launches a rocket," said ministry spokesman Moon Tae-Young. "Consultations are under way among government agencies concerned on this issue." The communist state announced it would send up a satellite sometime between April 4 and 8. The United States and its allies say this is a pretext to test a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile that could theoretically reach Alaska or Hawaii. PSI is aimed at stopping ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction and related materials, but the North sees it as a bid to "stifle" it with sanctions. South Korea's former liberal government avoided full participation in the initiative for the sake of inter-Korean ties. Even after the North's first nuclear test in 2006, Seoul maintained its status as an observer. The South's participation in PSI would worsen already tense inter-Korean relations. Pyongyang on Thursday issued a fresh warning that any move by President Lee Myung-Bak's government to join the PSI would be seen as a declaration of war. "This is... a criminal scenario to ignite a war against compatriots by cooperating with foreign forces in their moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK (North Korea)", said Minju Joson, Pyongyang's government daily. "The army and people of the DPRK will never overlook the Lee group's reckless manoeuvres to invade it and escalate the confrontation with it, but take prompt retaliatory measures against them." Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com All about missiles at SpaceWar.com Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
IAEA welcomes US-Russian talks on nuclear arms cuts
Vienna (AFP) April 2, 2009The UN atomic watchdog on Thursday welcomed an agreement by the United States and Russia to hold new talks on cutting their nuclear arsenals, saying the move would help boost nuclear non-proliferation. |
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