Rice Warns North Korea Not To Fire Missile
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Rice leveled a warning yesterday that “it would be a very serious matter and indeed a provocative act” if North Korea tested a long-range ballistic missile.
Ms. Rice’s remarks came after Bush administration officials said North Korea has apparently finished loading fuel into a ballistic missile, the latest signs that the reclusive communist state will soon test a weapon that could reach America.
Testing would abrogate several North Korean commitments and “it would be taken with utmost seriousness,” Ms. Rice said at a news conference.
Ms. Rice cited North Korea’s pledge of a missile moratorium in 1999 and its reiteration of the moratorium in 2002. She said North Korea also agreed in six party negotiations not to test long-range missiles.
She said America was working closely with its allies on the problem, but did not say what might be done if North Korea tested the missile.
At U.N. headquarters in New York, the American ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said he was holding preliminary consultations with Security Council members on steps that might be taken if North Korea fires a missile, “because it would obviously be very serious.”
