The United States said China should be very firm with North Korea over the missile tests but said the shockwaves from the launches fell well short of a World War III scenario.

US President George W. Bush said that the failure of a North Korean missile thought to be able to hit US territory did not lessen his concerns about Pyongyang's weapons programmes.

The Taepodong 2 "didn't stay up very long, it tumbled into the sea, which doesn't, frankly, diminish my desire to solve this problem", Bush said in his first public remarks after North Korea fired seven missiles.

South Korea put its military on high alert and condemned the move which it said threatened regional stability.

Japan denounced the launches as a "grave problem", put its troops and police on a higher state of alert and unleashed a package of sanctions.

White House and State Department officials stressed the seriousness of the situation but downplayed suggestions of a full-scale global diplomatic crisis and again ruled out direct talks with Pyongyang.

"There are attempts to try to describe this almost in breathless World War III terms. This is not such a situation," said White House spokesman Tony Snow.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, meanwhile, warned Pyongyang had "miscalculated" if it thought the tests -- including that of the Taepodong 2 long-range missile which could theoretically hit US soil -- would divide Washington and its Asian allies.

"There has been a very strong response to their actions. So whatever the motivations, whatever they thought they were doing, they have gotten a strong reaction from the international community," Rice said, as the UN Security Council met to discuss its response to the tests.

Rice did not specify which steps Washington might be considering to punish Pyongyang's actions.

But she added: "Of course the international community does have at its disposal a number of tools to make it more difficult for North Korea to engage in this kind of brinksmanship."

Washington's envoy to talks on the North Korea nuclear crisis, Christopher Hill, signalled the flavour of US diplomacy by warning in an interview with CNN International television that Beijing, host of stalled six-nation talks on North Korea, must now play a crucial role.

"We need China to be very, very firm with their neighbors and frankly with their long-term allies the North Koreans, on what is acceptable behaviour and what is not acceptable behaviour," said Hill, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.

The UN Security Council, meanwhile, held emergency consultations.

Members were united in deploring North Korea's missile launches but divisions emerged over how best to censure Pyonyang.

Japan's UN ambassador Kenzo Oshima pushed for a swift and strongly worded resolution, while Russia and China urged a more cautious approach.

"We hope that the response of the council will be swift, strong and resolute," Oshima said.

"By the tenor of the statements of all of the council members, I think there is support for sending a clear signal to Pyongyang," said US ambassador to the UN John Bolton.

Investors on both sides of the Atlantic were spooked by the tests, analysts said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq index, Europe's main national stock markets and the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares all fell.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said the tests would bring no positive results for North Korea but also said it was necessary to maintain dialogue.

"We always need to leave room for dialogue. Nothing can be solved without dialogue."

"North Korea must stop provocative activity, immediately return to six-party talks and join international efforts for nuclear non-proliferation," said Suh Choo-Suk, South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun's security policy advisor.

South Korea also threatened to stop shipments of rice and other humanitarian aid to its neighbour, and put its military on high alert.

China, considered to exert the greatest influence on North Korea, issued a subdued reaction calling on "relevant sides" to "remain calm and exercise restraint".

"We are seriously concerned about the incident that has already happened," Beijing's foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.

The latest missile launches come during an international standoff over the Communist state's nuclear programme. The North has boycotted six-party disarmament talks since November after Washington imposed financial sanctions.

Russia also condemned the tests, saying they undermined international efforts to ease nuclear tension on the Korean peninsula.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Rice discussed the matter by telephone, the government in Moscow said.

"The Russian side expressed its concern about such actions running counter to all the efforts of the international community," it said.

Lavrov also spoke on the topic by telephone to Taro Aso and Ban Ki-Moon, foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea respectively.

Australia, one of the few nations to have diplomatic ties with North Korea, summoned its ambassador to protest the action and urged China to exert its influence on the rogue state.

In a first comment from North Korea, foreign ministry official Ri Pyong Dok reportedly said the launches were an issue of national sovereignty.

"We will not be restricted by any agreement regarding this issue," he told visiting Japanese journalists, Japan's Kyodo News said.

North Korean Missile Tactics Sow Fear And Confusion
by Jong-Heon Lee - UPI Correspondent

North Korea's missile launches are considered as part of its long-standing brinkmanship aimed at boosting its negotiation leverage with the United States by ratcheting up its security threats, officials and analysts in Seoul say.

Its proved missile capabilities are also a rare source for earning much-need cash, along with narcotics and counterfeiting, they say.

The missile tests are also aimed at tightening the Kim Jong Il regime's grip on the country's hunger-stricken people with no immediate signs of economic upturn.

The defiant North fired six missiles on Wednesday morning, including a long-range ballistic missile which is believed to have a range of up to 6,700 kilometers, though it fell into waters off the Korean peninsula just 42 seconds after being launched, according to Seoul officials.

The North launched a seventh missile later that day when officials in Washington and Japan were seeking punitive measures against Pyongyang.

The missile tests have put the Asian-Pacific region on alert as the Taepodong-2 missile, which could be equipped with a nuclear warhead, is capable of reaching the continental United States.

"The missile tests are believed to be another card to win concessions from the Bush administration as its nuclear program has failed to attract U.S. attention," a senior government official said. With the missile threat, the North seeks to grab Washington's nuclear attention as its focus is primarily on Iran, he said.

Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon also described the North's missile tests as a move to put "political pressure" on the United States.

"That's why North Korea's missile tests timed to coincide with the liftoff of the U.S. space shuttle Discovery on its Independence Day," said Paik Hak-soon, a North Korea expert at South Korea's private Sejong Institute.

North Korea has prepared for the missile launches since late May, while inviting Christopher Hill, chief U.S. nuclear negotiator, to visit Pyongyang for direct talks to resolve the nuclear standoff.

After repeated proposals for direct talks with Washington, however, the North pressed ahead with the missile tests, raising the stakes in the security face-off with the United States, Paik and other analysts said.

"By firing a set of missiles, including a long-range missile toward the United States and Japan, North Korea wants to deliver a political message to Washington that the regional security can be threatened if the United States does not accept the North's demands," said Kim Tae-hyo, a political science professor at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul.

Missile parts and technology is one of the rare sources of earning hard currency for the cash-strapped country. "Missiles have been a lucrative export for the North. It has earned some $1.5 billion annually," said Kim Yong-hyun, who teaches North Koreans affairs at Dongguk University.

During missile talks with the United States in 1996-1997, North Korea demanded that Washington pay $3 billion in compensation for economic losses it would suffer from suspending missile exports.

The missile launch came ahead of a visit to Pyongyang by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, possibly late this month.

Chavez has announced that he will travel to North Korea, which is at odds with Washington over its nuclear program, at a time when Chavez is seeking to distance Venezuela from the United States.

The Venezuelan leader is most likely to fly to Pyongyang at the end of July on the occasion of his planned trip to Russia on July 25. Chavez told reporters that he will be going to the North to discuss science and technology cooperation.

But Chavez and Kim Jong Il are expected to seek an oil-for-arms deal. During the summit, Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil-rich country, is expected to offer energy resources to North Korea, which is suffering from energy shortages after the United States halted its supply of heavy oil.

In return, North Korea can offer conventional weapons and missiles to Venezuela, which is looking to fortify its military power.

Recently, a senior North Korean official made clear that it would continue missile exports, dismissing international concerns about proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

"As a sovereign state, North Korea has the right to not only develop, deploy, and test, but also to export missiles," said Han Song Ryol, North Korea's deputy chief of mission at the United Nations in New York. "It is not right that others tell us what to do about our sovereign rights," he said.

According to Seoul's Defense Ministry, North Korea has been developing the Scud-B and Scud-C missiles since late the 1970s with ranges of 300 and 500 kilometers each, and has sold some of them to Middle East countries. The North is believed to have deployed some 500 Scud missiles in the country.

The North has developed the Rodong missile which boasts a range of 1,000 kilometers and was test-fired in May 1993. It has some 300 Rodong missiles. In August 1998, the North launched a Taepodong-1 missile with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers over Japan into the Pacific Ocean.

Seoul In Dilemma Over North Korean Missile Tests
by Jong-Heon Lee - UPI Correspondent
North Korea's missile launches have posed a huge dilemma to South Korea as it pursues reconciliation and cooperation with its communist neighbor. The Seoul government has threatened to cut off economic aid to the impoverished North if it fires any missiles, but is concerned that further economic and diplomatic isolation of the North may upset fragile years-long reconciliation efforts with Pyongyang and increase South Korea's geopolitical risks.

The presidential National Security Council on Wednesday convened an emergency meeting of Cabinet ministers to discuss measures to cope with the North's renewed missile brinkmanship.

It issued a strongly worded statement to denounce North Korea's missile tests as "unwise, provocative acts" that threaten regional peace and stability.

"North Korea should stop provocative acts and immediately return to the six-party talks and join international efforts on non-proliferation," said the statement read by Suh Choo-suk, senior presidential secretary for security policy.

"North Korea should assume full responsibility for its missile launches," said the statement issued after an emergency meeting of senior security officials. "(The government) expresses deep regret, as it was an unwise act to have a negative impact including the worsening of public sentiment on North Korea," he said.

Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon also said North Korea's missiles pose a serious threat to the international community, especially since they can carry nuclear weapons.

"The North's missile launch is a serious threat in that it is part of the development of a tool to transport weapons of mass destruction, not just from the perspective of international law," Ban told reporters at a press conference.

But the government did not take immediate steps, such as suspension of its rice and fertilizer aid, to punish the North for conducting missile tests.

South Korea has shipped food and fertilizer to the hunger-stricken North, which has resorted to outside handouts to feed its 23 million people. South Korea provided 500,000 tons of food and 350,000 tons of fertilizer to the North last year.

Seoul is donating 450,000 tons of fertilizer this year. In addition, the South is pushing for massive economic assistance in an effort to reduce military tensions on the peninsula and promote cross-border reconciliation.

Analysts said South Korea would be under strong internal and external pressure to join possible U.S.-led "punitive actions" against the North.

Seoul has already been under fire for continuing to provide aid to the North even though Pyongyang remains stubborn on the protracted nuclear impasse.

It was also urged to cancel the high-level talks with the North slated for next week, but officials here said they were still debating whether or not to hold the inter-Korean summit.

Ministerial-level officials from the two Koreas are to meet July 11-14 in the South's southern port city of Busan, which hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit last November.

A government official said Seoul is hoping to stage the inter-Korean meeting as scheduled in order to use it to urge the North to refrain from missile activities and return to the long-stalled six-nation talks on its nuclear program.

The ministerial talks, which would be the 19th since the landmark inter-Korean summit of 2000, are the highest level dialogue channel to coordinate cross-border reconciliation and cooperation.

"For now, it is too early to discuss inter-Korean ties," a government official said, indicating Seoul would have more time to decide whether to regulate the speed of reconciliation and cooperation with North Korea.

South Korea's Defense Ministry confirmed it had detected six North Korean missile launches early Wednesday, including a long-range Taepodong-2 fired from the country's remote northeast coast. Later that day, North Korea fired a seventh missile, it said.

The launch of the Taepodong-s missile has put the Asian-Pacific region on alert as it could be equipped with a nuclear warhead capable of reaching the western coast of the continental United States.

However, the long-range missile fell into waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan just 42 seconds after being launched.

The South, meanwhile, has strengthened its military readiness against North Korea following the missile tests.

The inter-Korean border area is still a flashpoint. North Korea keeps 1.2 million soldiers, the world's fifth-largest force, to face off against 690,000 South Korean troops, which are backed by some 30,000 U.S. troops.

Korean Missile Launches Will Have Impact Across Whole Region
by Pamela Hess - UPI Pentagon Correspondent

While much attention is being paid to North Korea's threat to the United States in the wake of its launch of seven missiles, security experts say the real impact is regional, and pivots as much on China as it does on North Korea.

Many countries in Asia have been resisting making a decision to deploy theater missile defenses that could protect them from North Korean missiles in deference to China, which opposes them -- at least in part because they would hedge China's growing military power in the region.

North Korea's launches may now force those countries to make a political choice, either deploy homeland defenses against short- and medium-range missiles or explain to their people why they are not taking measures to protect their territory against a demonstrated regional threat, according to Jeremiah Gertler, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"The attitude of other countries in Asia toward missile defense may have just changed," Gertler told UPI Wednesday. "Japan's already embarked on ambitious program but other countries are trying not to make the decision or play it down, because any defense that an Asian nation puts forward could be seen as aimed at (neutralizing) China rather than North Korea. It defends against everyone, so the diplomatic situation is very delicate for a lot of countries."

"It was easy as long as the threat was theoretical for other countries to say we might not need this. Now they have to decide," Gertler said.

North Korea launched at least seven missiles in the last two days: one long-range TaepoDong 2 missile that fizzled within a minute of launch, and six medium- and short-range missiles, including Scud-like missiles. All landed harmlessly in the Pacific. The latest came at 4:15 a.m. Eastern Time Wednesday. None threatened the United States or its territories, according to Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, who confirmed that U.S. missile defense systems monitored all the launches.

While the TaepoDong's explosion during the boost phase put the missiles outside of immediate concern to the United States, nearby Asian nations no longer have a buffer zone -- physically or intellectually, Gertler said.

South Korea has eschewed missile defense as antithetical to its hope to eventually reunite North and South Korea, according to Gertler. Taiwan, while clearly threatened by China and now North Korea, has not reached a political consensus on the matter so has not deployed a system. India has been open to a missile defense program but primarily aimed at defense from Pakistan, and Australia has only considered theater defense for forward deployed troops. All are within conceptual range of North Korea's medium-range missiles.

Deploying theater-level systems capable of shooting down Scud missiles would seem an obvious choice, giving those governments a clear reason to buck Chinese pressure. But China is likely to stand in the way.

"China will continue to oppose regional missile defenses," predicted Michael Pillsbury, a scholar and consultant to the Defense Department on China.

The matter is complicated, in Pillsbury's view, by the Bush administration's repeated references to China as the international community's best hope to avert a North Korean launch. China is North Korea's primary trading partner and the source of nearly all its oil. It has long been considered the only power that can influence the erratic government in North Korea.

China obviously failed to do so, and the launch was an international embarrassment. It seems to undermine China's claims to regional influence and power. If China cannot protect the region from North Korean aggression, the region's capitals now have political cover to do it for themselves.

But Pillsbury reads the events in a different way.

"It's not quite clear whether they tried very hard" to dissuade North Korea, said Pillsbury.

Pillsbury believes China may have strategic reasons for not working energetically against a North Korean launch. Pillsbury believes China is far more paranoid about U.S. intentions toward Beijing than it lets on, and that China benefits from a rogue North Korea. If North Korea and South Korea eventually reunite, the United States will likely have significant military forces on China's doorstep. A difficult North Korea delays that possibility. With China widely regarded as 20 years shy of military parity with the United States, and growing exponentially economically, delay may be what it wants.

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