Missile test upstages Roh's big day

SEOUL - North Korea ratcheted up tensions in a nuclear crisis by test-firing a missile as world dignitaries gathered in Seoul for the inauguration of President Roh Moo Hyun.

News of the test rattled markets around the region and upstaged the swearing in of Roh, a 56-year-old former human rights lawyer whose dovish approach to North Korea puts at risk a half-century alliance with Washington, which is pushing for a tougher stance.

The United States State Department said yesterday that North Korea fired an anti-ship cruise missile into the Sea of Japan on Monday, apparently as part of a periodic military training exercise.

A Pyongyang official, speaking at a summit of non-aligned nations in Malaysia, confirmed the test and said it was carried out for "security".

"Everybody has missiles, so what's the big deal?" said another senior member of the North Korean delegation.

Last night North Korea raised tensions further by claiming a US strategic reconnaissance aircraft had intruded into its airspace on Monday and on three consecutive other days to spy on the country ahead of a possible attack.

The North's official KCNA news agency said the RC-135 aircraft was supported by a KC-135 refuelling tanker plane on its missions up and down the east coast of the Korean Peninsula inside North Korean airspace.

"The US imperialist warhawks illegally intruded RC-135 strategic reconnaissance plane into the territorial air of the DPRK to spy on it," KCNA said. DPRK is the acronym for the North's official title, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea shocked the region when it launched a long-range ballistic missile over Japan in August 1998. Washington believes the communist state has a rocket capable of striking the US West Coast and may already have nuclear weapons.

In his inaugural speech, Roh described North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons programme as "a grave threat to world peace".

But he highlighted a growing rift with Washington over how to handle the threat by calling for a shift in a relationship forged in the Cold War and nurtured by pro-US military Presidents.

Roh said he would seek a more equitable and reciprocal relationship with South Korea's main ally, which maintains 37,000 troops in the country.

Among the more than 200 foreign dignitaries attending the inauguration were representatives from major powers with a keen interest in defusing the nuclear crisis, including US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Chinese foreign policy chief Qian Qichen and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, Moscow's pointman on North Korea.

Although details of the test were sketchy, including the exact timing and trajectory, a South Korean defence ministry official said the cruise missile had a range of 95km. A military source said Monday's firing was about the 10th since December.

Japan's top Government spokesman said it was not yet clear whether the firing posed a national security threat.

"We must judge whether this would pose a threat after confirming North Korea's intentions and the type of the missile," Yasuo Fukuda told reporters.

Roh has alarmed Washington by ruling out a military option against the North. He has vowed to continue predecessor Kim Dae Jung's unconditional engagement with North Korea and wants to draw Pyongyang into a North Asian "economic community".

Roh's 30-minute inaugural speech made no reference to Monday's missile test.

"The suspicion that North Korea is developing nuclear weapons poses a grave threat to world peace, not to mention the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia," Roh said.

"It is up to Pyongyang whether to go ahead and obtain nuclear weapons or to get guarantees for the security of its regime and international economic support."

Pyongyang demands direct talks with Washington to defuse the crisis and has escalated tensions through a series of provocations. The US insists on a multilateral approach.

The crisis began in October, when US officials said North Korea had admitted pursuing a covert nuclear weapons programme. The North then expelled International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, pulled out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and threatened to resume missile testing and abandon the 1953 Korean War armistice.

"The North's missile firing represents pressure from the North on the US, intending to bring the US to the negotiating table," said Choi Wan Kyu from South Korea's Kyungnam University.

- REUTERS