North Korea test-fired a barrage of missiles yesterday, including a long-range weapon said to be capable of reaching Alaska, ratcheting up tensions in Northeast Asia and drawing international condemnation.
At least six missiles were launched early in the morning and a seventh some 12 hours later, officials in Japan and South Korea said. Russia said North Korea fired 10 missiles, but the report from a senior general could not be immediately confirmed.
The long-range Taepodong-2 missile apparently failed 40 seconds into its flight, US officials said. Japanese and South Korean officials said the missiles fell into the sea separating the Korean Peninsula from Japan.
The US warned North Korea against any more provocative acts, and said Washington would take necessary measures to protect itself and its allies.
"The United States strongly condemns these missile launches and North Korea's unwillingness to heed calls for restraint from the international community," White House spokesman Tony Snow said in a statement.
The missile launches "demonstrate North Korea's intent to intimidate other states by developing missiles of increasingly longer ranges," Snow said.
"We are consulting with international partners on next steps," he added.
The UN Security Council was to meet later in the day, at Japan's request, to discuss the latest move by Pyongyang, a French spokesman at the UN said.
Japan called for the Security Council meeting, which was due to start at 1400 GMT on Wednesday, and has urged China and South Korea to support its efforts to broker a UN resolution against North Korea's missile launches.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso held separate telephone conversations with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (李肇星) to garner support for Tokyo's efforts to persuade the council to adopt a resolution.
The US, meanwhile, announced it would dispatch its top envoy on Asian affairs, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, to the region for talks, while South Korea's national security adviser was due at the White House.
"You're going to see a lot of diplomatic activity here over the next 24-48 hours," White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters on a conference call late on Tuesday.
Hadley said the multiple firings might have been an attempt by Pyongyang to steal the spotlight away from Iran, which has been the main focus of US nuclear diplomacy in recent months.
"Obviously, it is a bit of an effort to get attention, perhaps because so much attention has been focused on the Iranians," Hadley told reporters.
But he said it was impossible to be sure about Pyongyang's motives.
North Korea, whose government pays close attention to symbolic gestures, chose to launch the missiles as the US was marking its July 4 Independence Day.
"It got everybody's attention on the Fourth of July. [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-il can set off fireworks, too," said John Pike, director of the security Web site GlobalSecurity.org.
North Korean media made no mention of the multiple launches, Japanese reporters in Pyongyang said. State radio led its bulletins on Kim Jong-il's visit to a tire factory, they said.
Experts say the Taepodong-2 has a possible range of 3,500km to 4,300km.
Japan said it would consider immediate economic sanctions against North Korea. The government banned visits by North Korean ferries for six months.
"Whatever North Korea seeks to achieve or is speculating, nothing positive for North Korea will come out from this," Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said.
"Today's launches were done despite advance warning by the relevant countries," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, the Japanese government's top spokesman.
"This is a grave problem in terms of peace and stability not only of Japan but also of international society. We strongly protest against North Korea," he said.
"Cooperating with the United States, we will work for the UN Security Council to take appropriate measures ... and Japan will take any kind of sanctions we can take," he said.
Japanese Cabinet ministers and government officials held an emergency security meeting, with US Ambassador Thomas Schieffer also rushing to Koizumi's official residence.
Japan put its troops and police on a higher state of alert, banned the entry of a North Korean ferry for six months and vowed additional "stern measures."
In Seoul, the government said authorities would take action if necessary, but urged a peaceful response.
In a statement from South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's office, the government pledged to try to engage Pyongyang in a "patient dialogue" to calm tensions and resolve the standoff over the North's missile program.
South Korean officials publicly criticized the missile tests as a "provocative act" earlier in the day, but the latest statement suggested Seoul had not abandoned its policy to trying to engage the North.
Roh himself has not made a public statement on the tests.
"Pressuring North Korea and creating tensions are not helpful in the resolution of issue," the presidential office said.
"We should resolve the issue in a way that would not create tensions on the Korean Peninsula," the statement said. "We need to make strong protest within the framework of dialogue but act prudently and flexibly."
The call for calm talk came a week before the two Koreas were to meet in Busan for Cabinet-level talks, their highest-level regular contacts.
Officials earlier in the day indicated Seoul was reconsidering the talks in light of the missile tests, but the later statement suggested they would go ahead.
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said that he was consulting with his counterparts in the US, China, Japan and Russia to form a common approach to the threat to regional security.
"Our government has serious concerns about the North Korean missile launch," he said, saying the missiles were a threat because they could be used to deliver weapons of mass destruction.
Russia, China, the EU and NATO all condemned the launches.
Russia's Foreign Ministry summoned the North Korean ambassador to protest the missile tests, Russian news agencies reported.
ITAR-Tass reported from Tokyo that one fell about 250km from the port of Vladivostok -- home to Russia's Pacific Fleet. Russian state television said that missile fell just a few dozen kilometers from nearby port, Nakhodka.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (
"We hope that all sides will maintain calm and restraint, and do things conducive to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia and do not take any further steps that will add to tensions and further complicate the situation," Liu said.
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