Defiant North Korea vows to fire more missiles

A defiant North Korea yesterday acknowledged for the first time that it had launched a missile, vowed to carry out more tests and threatened to use force if the international community tried to stop it.

Pyongyang's statement came as the United States and Japan closed ranks in the face of a UN Security Council split over whether to slap sanctions on North Korea over the volley of missiles it fired.

"The successful missile test was part of a regular military exercise conducted by our military to boost our self-defence," Yonhap news agency quoted a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying on KRT state TV. "If anyone tries to discuss the rights and wrongs [of future tests] and apply pressure, we will be forced to take physical actions of a different nature."

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and US President George W. Bush, speaking by telephone, agreed to work together for a UN resolution demanding that nations halt funds and technology that could be used for Pyongyang's long-range missile programme.

Their call came after Russia and China opposed slapping sanctions on North Korea, echoing the split among the UN Security Council's veto-wielding members over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

North Korea launched at least six missiles from its east coast early on Wednesday. As the international community fumed, the reclusive Stalinist state launched a seventh some 12 hours later. The missiles included a long-range Taepodong-2, which experts said could hit Alaska.

South Korea's Defence Minister told a parliamentary committee that an analysis of equipment and personnel movements at a missile launch site in North Korea suggested the possibility of additional launches.

NBC News quoted unnamed US officials as saying preparations might be under way for another launch.

- REUTERS