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                 North Korea Hints at Ballistic Missile Launch

   by VOA News

   North Korea has indicated it may be planning a new ballistic missile
   test or other military provocation, hours after it said it had no
   interest in dialogue over its nuclear weapons.

   Analysts have speculated for weeks that Pyongyang may conduct a rocket
   launch in October to mark the ruling party's 70th anniversary, a major
   date on North Korea's political calendar.

   When asked Tuesday about a possible test, North Korea U.N. Ambassador
   Jang Il Han told reporters that he could not rule out the possibility,
   adding "I'm sure we'll have a grand celebration."

   "We stated in the past that we will respond to the military deterrence
   and pressure of the United States with modernization and expansion of
   our nuclear forces," Jang said during a rare news conference in New
   York.

   Concerns over a possible test were reinforced Tuesday when the
   well-respected 38 North blog reported North Korea appears to have
   completed upgrades at its main missile launch site.

   The blog, run by the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins
   University, said Pyongyang has finished constructing a support building
   on the Sohae launchpad where rockets would be prepared.

   But the report, which relied on commercial satellite images, cautioned
   there is no evidence preparations are underway for a long-rang missile
   launch. "In the coming weeks, if preparations are indeed underway, we
   would expect to see other on-the ground indications at Sohae," it said.

   South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported last week that the North had
   built a new rocket launch tower, bigger than the one used to fire a
   suspected ballistic missile in 2012.

   U.N. resolutions bar Pyongyang from any ballistic missile activity and
   previous test launches have led to sanctions against the reclusive
   communist state.

   But Ambassador Jang said Tuesday that North Korea is "free to do
   whatever we want."

   Earlier Tuesday, North Korea's ambassador to China, Ji Jae Ryong said
   the North has no "interest at all in dialogue for unilaterally freezing
   or giving up our nukes."

   Ji called Pyongyang's situation totally different from Iran, which just
   signed a nuclear deal with six major world powers.

   "We are a nuclear state, both in name and reality. As a nuclear state,
   we have our own interests in a nuclear program," Ji said.

   He said North Korea needs its nuclear weapons to "restrain the
   provocative nuclear war acts of the U.S."

   The comments came as senior U.S. envoy Sydney Seiler visited Beijing
   Tuesday for talks on how to revive the stalled six-party nuclear talks
   with North Korea.

   After meeting with officials in Seoul on Monday, Seiler said the U.S.
   is ready to engage Pyongyang in the same way it helped broker a deal
   with Iran.

   The north has conducted three nuclear tests, leading Security Council
   to impose severe sanctions on North Korean banking, travel and trade.
   Pyongyang waked out of six-nation nuclear talks in 2009.
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   e-launch/2882836.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/north-korea-hints-at-ballistic-missile-launch/2882836.html