US 'deeply troubled' by N Korea missile firing

Washington, June 28: The United States said today it was ''deeply troubled'' by North Korea's recent missile test-firings, saying it violated a UN Security Council resolution, and urged Pyongyang to refrain from further launches.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency earlier reported that North Korea may have fired a short-range missile off its east coast today. A Seoul Defence Ministry official could not confirm the report. North Korea has fired at least two short-range missiles over the past month.

''The United States is deeply troubled that North Korea has decided to launch these missiles during a delicate time in the six-party talks,'' Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said.

Six-party talks by the two Koreas, Japan, Russia, the United States and China aimed at stopping North Korea's nuclear programme reached a disarmament-for-aid deal in February.

But the accord was stalled for weeks by a dispute over about 25 million dollars of North Korean funds frozen at the behest of the United States in a Macau bank. Pyongyang agreed to implement the deal this week after the money was released.

Johndroe said the missile launches were a violation of a UN Security Council resolution which prohibits North Korea from engaging in ballistic missile activities.

''We expect North Korea to refrain from conducting further provocative ballistic missile launches, activity that is destabilising to the security of northeast Asia and turn its focus to implementing its commitments under the February 13th agreement, including the immediate shut down of Yongbyon,'' Johndroe said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said today that North Korea will allow a team of UN nuclear watchdog officials to visit the Yongbyon reactor it has agreed to shut down under the agreement.

Reuters

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