(at least Hillary is trying to get the UN to do something, anything!)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aQZveC6VTR20&refer=japanApril 8 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea warned it will take “strong steps” if the United Nations Security Council censures the communist state over its long-range rocket launch.
Pak Tok Hun, the country’s deputy ambassador to the UN, said yesterday his nation had every right to fire a satellite into space and shouldn’t be punished.
“Every country has the right, the inalienable right to use the air space peacefully,” Pak told reporters in New York. If the Security Council takes “any kind of steps whatever, we’ll consider this infringes upon the sovereignty of our country and the next option will be ours.”
The U.S. and Japan say the April 5 launch violated a UN resolution prohibiting North Korea from developing missile technology and are pressing for action by the Security Council. China, North Korea’s strongest ally, said yesterday it wants a “prudent response” from the UN to the missile test to help maintain calm.
The launch of the Taepodong-2 rocket represents an early test for Barack Obama’s presidency and may complicate efforts to get North Korea to return to six-nation talks aimed at eliminating its nuclear weapons program.
Nuclear Bomb
Kim Jong Il’s regime is already subject to sanctions under a resolution adopted unanimously by the Security Council in October 2006, after the nation tested a nuclear bomb. Resolution 1718 demanded North Korea “not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic missile” and barred the sale or transfer of missiles, warships, tanks and other military hardware to the nation.
The U.S. State Department says the technology for a space rocket and ballistic missile are similar, so the satellite launch breached the resolution.
China and Russia, which can veto any Security Council resolution, are urging restraint and say further study is needed to determine whether the launch was a violation.
“A satellite is different in nature from a missile launch or a nuclear test and also involves the country’s right to the peaceful use of space,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular briefing in Beijing yesterday.
China may support a draft resolution that affirms earlier sanctions, Mexican and Costa Rican ambassadors on the panel said earlier this week.
North Korea, which broadcast a video of the launch on state television, says the Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite entered orbit and is now beaming back patriotic songs.
The U.S. says stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan and the remaining stages, along with the satellite, crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Russia can’t find evidence of a North Korean satellite orbiting the Earth, Interfax news agency reported this week.