Japan will file a "fierce" protest if North Korea test-fires a long-range missile and seek an immediate meeting of the UN Security Council, Tokyo's foreign minister said yesterday, amid increasing reports that a launch may be imminent.
Meanwhile, North Korea said yesterday it is seeking to increase its military deterrent to cope with US moves, in one of its typical anti-Washington propaganda messages.
There was no mention of a missile in the report from the North's official media on a national meeting marking the anniversary of leader Kim Jong-il starting work in the country's communist party.
North Korea hasn't fired a long-range missile since August 1998, when it sent a rocket flying over parts of Japanese territory in a launch that shocked the region. Since 1999, Pyongyang has abided by a self-imposed moratorium on long-range tests.
But signs of a launch have grown in recent days, with reports saying a missile has been assembled at a launch pad on the North's eastern coast, and that it may have been fueled for launch.
"There are signs" of a missile launch, Jung Tae-ho, a spokesman at the South Korean president's office, said, without elaborating. He said security officials were "closely watching the situation."
South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing a South Korean government official, reported yesterday that weather conditions in the region of the North Korean launch site weren't good, indicating the North may not fire its missile.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said the country would not immediately resort to arms if North Korea fires a missile, but would take the issue to the UN.
"We will naturally file a stern protest and it will be fierce," Aso said on a news program on TV Asahi, adding that the North would gain nothing from the test.
Aso also reportedly said that it would be "inevitable" that the UN Security Council would consider imposing sanctions on Pyongyang if it goes ahead with the launch.
Speaking on a news program on Fuji TV, Aso said Tokyo could impose sanctions on the North in the event a missile was fired because it would violate Pyongyang's commitment to impose a moratorium on such tests.
At the North Korean national meeting yesterday, officials talked about increasing the North's "military deterrent" -- commonly used by the country to refer to its nuclear program, which Pyongyang contends it needs for a defense to a possible US attack. Washington denies any intention to invade.
"The [North] Korean army and people will do their best to increase the military deterrent with sharp vigilance to cope with the moves of the US, which is hell-bent on provocations for war of aggression on the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea], resorting to its anti-DPRK policy, and its followers Japan and other bellicose forces," said the report from the Korean Central News Agency, quoting Choe Thae-bok, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.
"If the enemies ignite a war eventually, the Korean army and people will mercilessly wipe out the aggressors and give vent to the deep-rooted grudge of the nation," Choe said.
The US and Japan have confirmed that assembly of what is believed to be a Taepodong-2 missile has been completed with two stages at the launch site, based on photos from satellites, Japan's largest daily, the Yomiuri Shimbun, reported yesterday.
The paper also said it appeared the North has begun filling the missile with fuel, citing unnamed US government officials who conveyed information on Saturday to the Japanese government through unofficial channels.
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