North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has reaffirmed once again that the country has no intention of abandoning next month’s rocket launch, with a MoFA spokesperson declaring today via Chosun Central News Agency, “We will absolutely not abandon the peaceful satellite launch, which is the legal right of an independent state and necessary for economic development.”
“The launching of a working satellite to welcome the 100th anniversary of the birth of comrade Kim Il Sung is both part of General Kim Jong Il’s last instructions and a normal activity that has been in the planning for quite some time,” the statement went on. “They should leave behind the idea of obstructing our way forward and have the bravery to accept that we, like everyone else, have the right to launch satellites.”
“We did not include the peaceful launching of satellites in the temporary cessation of long range missile launches at the Chosun-U.S. high-level talks,” the spokesperson added. “In the results of the 2.29 Chosun-U.S. agreement it did not say ‘long-range missile launches including those of satellites’ or ‘launches using ICBM technology’; it specified a ‘temporary halt to long-range missile launches’.”
“The U.S. says it has no hostile intent towards us, but since it can never step away from this confrontational approach, it sees peaceful satellite launches as long range missile launches,” the statement concluded, adding, “By even inviting NASA to send experts, they will be able to confirm the peaceful character of our satellite launch with their very own eyes.”
