US says North Korea should not 'aggravate tensions'

The United States urged North Korea yesterday not to "aggravate tensions" as it slammed Pyongyang's latest missile test, apparently timed for the US Independence Day holiday, as "not helpful."

"North Korea should refrain from actions that aggravate tensions and focus on denuclearisation talks and the implementation of its commitments from the September 19, 2005 joint statement," said State Department spokesman Karl Duckworth.

"This type of North Korean behaviour is not helpful," he said after North Korea test-fired seven missiles off its east coast earlier yesterday, according to South Korean officials.

The ballistic missiles - which the North is banned from firing under UN resolutions - were launched into the Sea of Japan.

It was the biggest salvo of ballistic weaponry since the North fired a long-range Taepodong-2 and six smaller missiles on US Independence Day in 2006.

Under the 2005 agreement, North Korea promised to give up its nuclear programme in exchange for a US pledge not to attack or invade it and to work toward normalised relations.

The United States and other parties to the agreement - China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea - also offered to put together an energy package for North Korea.

But North Korea announced last April that it was walking out of the six-party talks and resuming operation of its nuclear facilities.

Pyongyang conducted its second nuclear test in May.

"What North Korea needs to do is fulfil its international obligations and commitments," Duckworth said, adding that North Korean missile launches "highlight the importance of fully implementing the provisions of the UN resolutions."

Professor Kim Yong-Hyun of Seoul's Dongguk University said the launches were clearly timed to coincide with US Independence Day. "This is a thinly veiled warning to the United States and the international community that it may launch long-range missiles next time," he said.

Chinese officials and their Russian counterparts said yesterday after a meeting in Moscow that both countries are "convinced" there is no alternative to the six-party talks.

The negotiations are an "efficient instrument to resolve the nuclear problem on the Korean peninsula," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

A US delegation met this week with Chinese officials for talks on implementing UN sanctions imposed on North Korea.

Delegation head Philip Goldberg - the State Department's point man on coordinating implementation of the sanctions - told reporters last Thursday he had "very good discussions" in Beijing.

"We intend to implement these resolutions with the overall goal of returning to a path of denuclearisation and nonproliferation on the Korean peninsula."