US warns N. Korea against further 'provocative' acts
16 February AFP
The United States called on North Korea not to take any further
provocative steps, as a US think tank said Pyongyang was preparing a
launchpad that could pave the way to firing a long-range missile.
Asked about media reports that North Korea, also known as the DPRK,
has told China it is preparing further nuclear tests, State Department
spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said such moves would just "lead to more
isolation." "The United States calls on the DPRK to refrain from
additional provocative actions that would violate its international
obligations and run counter to its commitments," she told journalists.
UN Security Council resolutions insist North Korea should not carry
out any further nuclear tests, or face further global sanctions.
There was global outrage after Pyongyang on Tuesday defiantly carried
out its third nuclear test, saying it was responding to US "hostility"
after the UN Security Council condemned its last missile launch two
months ago.
"The DPRK is not going to achieve anything in terms of the health,
wealth, safety, (or) future of its own people by these kinds of
continued provocative actions," Nuland said.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest, speaking aboard Air Force One,
also stressed that Pyongyang should abide by UN resolutions.
"We encourage the North Koreans to live up to their international
obligations, abandon their nuclear program and work with the rest of the
international community to become a responsible member of the
international community," he said.
38 North, a blog of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins
University, said Thursday it had analyzed satellite photos that it said
showed possible assistance from Iran at the Tonghae Satellite Launching
Ground in northeastern North Korea.
38 North said a commercial satellite photograph taken on January 5
showed "important progress" since the area was hit with typhoons last
year and indicated activity that was consistent with preparations for a
launch.
But the website said there was not enough evidence to support
speculation that North Korea could raise the stakes by testing its
KN-08, a new missile with potential intercontinental range first
displayed in a parade in April.
The website said that North Korea likely was preparing to test much
larger rockets by the time the site is completed in 2016.
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