06 May 2009

North Korea has threatened to test intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and to conduct further nuclear-weapon tests unless the UN Sanctions Committee apologises for decisions that Pyongyang sees as a violation of its sovereignty.

On 24 April, the committee banned transactions with three North Korean organisations - the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation, the Korea Ryonbong General Corporation and the Tanchon Commercial Bank - and called on UN member states to freeze the assets of the two companies. This move followed the launch by North Korea on 5 April of what it claimed was a satellite launch vehicle.

An official statement released by the North Korean foreign ministry on 29 April accused the Sanctions Committee of having "infringed the sovereignty of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea]" and denounced the committee's actions as "illegal provocations". If the UN does not make an immediate apology, "the DPRK will be compelled to take additional self-defensive measures in order to defend its supreme interests. The measures will include nuclear tests and test-firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles."

Clues to the current level of North Korean missile technology can be obtained by its 5 April attempt to launch a satellite using a Taepo Dong/Unha 2 vehicle. Although North Korea claimed that the vehicle successfully placed a Kwangmyongsong 2 communications satellite into orbit, later that day US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) announced that although a vehicle had been launched at 22:30 EDT, it had not orbited a satellite.

Source: www.janes.com