Pyongyang Claims its Missiles 'the Key' to Regional Stability

Are long-range missile tests by the Kim Jong-il regime 'the key to preserving peace and stability in Northeast Asia?' According to North Korea's Communist Party news service, it is 'far-fetched' to blame Pyongyang for a rise in tension, since North Korea's 'tremendous self-defense deterrent' is the only thing stopping a U.S. invasion. According to Kim Jong-il, his regime has no obligation to notify anyone of its plans.

July 6, 2006

North Korea - Korean News - Home Page (English)    

Pyongyang: A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea gave the following answer to a question offered by the Korea Central News Agency, in regard to the recent missile launches by North Korea.

In the wake of the missile launches by the Korean People's Army [KPA], the United States and a number of other countries that following it, including Japan, are making much ado about the tests. They have labeled them a "violation" and a "provocation," are calling for "sanctions" and North Korea's "referral to the U.N. Security Council."

The latest successful missile launches were routine military exercises staged by the KPA to increase the nation's capacity for self-defenses.

North Korea's exercise of its legitimate rights as a sovereign state is neither limited by any international law nor bilateral or multilateral agreements.

The DPRK is not a signatory to the Missile Technology Control Regime and, therefore, is not bound under that either.

As for the moratorium on long-range missile tests which the DPRK agreed to with the U.S. in 1999, this was valid only while the DPRK-U.S. dialogue was under way.

The Bush administration, however, scrapped all the agreements concluded by the preceding administration and has completely scuttled the bilateral dialogue.

North Korea clarified in March 2005 that its moratorium on missile tests had expired. The same can be said of the moratorium on long-range missile tests, which North Korea has agreed to with Japan in the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration of 2002.

In the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration, North Korea expressed its "intention to extend beyond 2003 the moratorium on missile tests in the spirit of the declaration."

This step was taken on the premise that Japan would move to normalize relations with the DPRK and redeem its past. The Japanese authorities, however, have abused North Korea's good faith. They have not honored their commitment. Rather, they have internationalized the "abduction issue," pursuant to America's hostile policy toward the North Korea, although the DPRK had fully settled the issue. This behavior has brought overall North Korea -Japan relations to what it was before the declaration. The delay in missile tests lasted as long as it did only because of North Korea's broad magnanimity.

The Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks on September 19, 2005 stipulates the commitments to be fulfilled by the six parties to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. But no sooner had the Joint Statement been adopted than the U.S. applied financial sanctions against North Korea, and escalating the financial pressure in a number of areas. The U.S., at the same time, has completely hamstrung efforts to implement the Joint Statement, by issuing threats and practicing blackmail, such as large-scale military exercises targeted against North Korea.

Under such a situation, it is clear to everyone that there is no need for North Korea to unilaterally delay its missile tests. This being the stark fact of the matter, it is a far-fetched assertion and grossly false for them to claim that these routine missile launches, conducted by the KPA for self-defense purposes, raise tensions in the region and block the progress of dialogue.

History and the stark reality of international relations teach us that upsetting the balance of forces is bound to create instability, crisis and even war. This has once again been proven by the crisis in Iraq.

If it weren't for North Korea's tremendous self-defense deterrent, the United States would have repeatedly attacked, for example when it listed the former as part of an "axis of evil" and a "target of preemptive nuclear attack." In such a case, peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the region would have been seriously disturbed.

North Korea's missile development, test-firing, manufacturing and deployment, therefore, are the key to maintaining a balance of forces and preserving peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

It is also preposterous for them to label the latest missile launches a "provocation" merely because North Korea's failed to provide prior notice.

It would be extremely foolish to notify Washington or Tokyo of missile launches in advance, given that the United States, which is technically at war with North Korea, has been threatening for the past month to intercept North Korea's missiles.

We would like to ask the United States and Japan if they had ever notified North Korea of their never-ending missile launches in areas close to its shores. North Korea remains determined in its will to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula in a negotiated and peaceful manner, just as it committed itself in the Joint Statement of Six-Party Talks. But the latest missile tests are quite irrelevant to Talks.

The KPA will continue with missile tests as part of its effort to bolster its deterrent self-defense forces. North Korea will have no option but to take other types of strong physical actions, should any other country dare take issue and put pressure on it over its missile tests.