US calls for it to press Pyongyang to ditch
nuclear programme are pointless unless Washington looks at own role, Beijing
says
By Justin McCurry
 |
|
North Korean media said
the Pukguksong-2 missile was a strategic weapon
capable of carrying a
nuclear warhead. Photograph: KCNA/Reuters
|
North Korea has claimed it successfully test
launched a medium-to-long-range ballistic missile, with China voicing
opposition but rejecting criticism that it could do more to steer the regime
away from its goal of developing a nuclear weapon capable of striking the US
mainland.
The test on Sunday appeared to be timed to
coincide with Donald Trump’s summit with the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo
Abe, and forced the two leaders to agree on an ad hoc response after their
round of golf at Trump’s estate in Florida.
Geng Shuang, a Chinese foreign ministry
spokesman, said: “All sides should exercise restraint and jointly maintain
regional peace and security.” He told reporters in Beijing that China would
take part in UN security talks with a “responsible and constructive attitude”.
The US, Japan and South Korea requested
urgent diplomatic talks at the UN to discuss the launch. Closed consultations
will take place late on Monday afternoon, said the UN Mission for Ukraine,
which holds the rotating security council presidency.
The Chinese Communist party newspaper said US
demands for Beijing to pressure Pyongyang into abandoning its nuclear and
missile programmes were pointless, unless Washington examined its own role in
fomenting current tensions.
The Global Times said North Korea had been
angered by the “very real” military threat from the US and its allies, and the
imposition of tough UN sanctions. The editorial, published on Monday, said by
insisting that China take action, the US and other countries were ignoring the
“root cause” of Pyongyang’s provocative behaviour.
The Russian foreign ministry described the
launch as a “another defiant disregard” for UN security council resolutions,
and a cause for “regret and concern”.
The Trump administration has promised to take
a tough line against Pyongyang, but in his brief response on Sunday, the US
president said only that the US stood “100%” by its ally Japan. Abe described
the launch as “absolutely intolerable”.
Stephen Miller, Trump’s senior policy
adviser, said the president and Abe had displayed “an important show of
solidarity” between their nations. “The message we’re sending to the world
right now is a message of strength and solidarity. We stand with Japan and we
stand with our allies in the region to address the North Korean menace,” Miller
said in an interview with ABC’s This Week.
North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency said
the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, had personally overseen the launch of a
Pukguksong-2 missile, which flew for about 500km (310 miles) before splashing
down in the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan. KCNA described the
missile as a strategic weapon capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
Kim had “expressed great satisfaction over
the possession of another powerful nuclear attack means, which adds to the
tremendous might of the country,” KCNA said, adding that the missile had been
launched at a steep trajectory out of consideration for the safety of
neighbouring countries.
In claims that have yet to be verified, the
news agency said a solid-fuel engine had propelled the missile, an improved
version of a submarine-launched ballistic missile that was launched last
summer, to an altitude of 550km.
The successful use of a solid-fuel engine
would raise the stakes for North Korea’s neighbours and the US. The engines
take far less time to refuel than conventional liquid fuel-powered missiles,
and they give the missiles greater power and range.
Yun Duk-min from the South Korean state-run
Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security said: “They leave little
warning time and therefore pose a greater threat to opponents.” Satellites find
them harder to detect before they are launched, he added.
Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics said North Korean claims about the missile’s engine
were “a very concerning development”.
“This new rocket is the type that we should
be much more worried about,” he said. “Solid-fuel rockets can be launched at
short notice without much preparation. Large solid-fuel motors are difficult to
make work correctly, so this is indeed a significant advance by North Korea.”
North Korea conducted two nuclear tests and
more than 20 missile tests last year, but the previous two launches, involving
medium-range Musudan rockets, ended in failure, according to US and South
Korean officials.
More UN sanctions and the quick deployment of
an advanced missile defence system in South Korea are among the options open to
Washington, but a US official said any response would be designed to avoid
raising tensions.
The Trump administration is under pressure to
formulate a coherent North Korea policy amid warnings that the regime could be
preparing to test launch an intercontinental ballistic missile. A successful
test would significantly increase North Korea’s bargaining power, since fully
functioning ICBMs have the range to strike the US mainland.
Jeong Joon-hee, a spokesman from South
Korea’s unification ministry, told reporters, said: “These are serious military
and security threats. Pyongyang has no intention of backing away from its goal
of becoming a country with nuclear weapons.”
