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No signs detected for DPRK's long-range rocket test: S.Korean defense minister

Xinhua, September 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo said Thursday that no signs have been detected yet for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s test-firing of long- range rockets ahead of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Worker's Party of Korea.

"Such speculations (over the DPRK's possible rocket firing) were raised at home and aboard, but there have been no such signs detected yet," Han told lawmakers during the parliamentary audit of government offices.

His comments came amid rising concerns that Pyongyang may test- fire a long-range rocket, which Seoul saw as a ballistic missile, around the 70th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK's governing party on Oct. 10.

The DPRK recently erected a 67-meter-long launch tower for long- range rockets, taller than the previous 50-meter pad, at a Tongchang-ri rocket base in the northwest DPRK. The country fired a three-stage Unha-3 rocket into the space orbit in December 2012, two months before its third nuclear test.

Tensions escalated on the Korean Peninsula last month after landmine blasts in frontline areas and the resumption of propaganda broadcasts followed by the exchange of fires across the border.

After more than 40 hours of marathon talks, Seoul and Pyongyang agreed on Aug. 25 to defuse tensions, which brought the peninsula to the brink of armed conflict, and to hold inter-governmental talks in Seoul or Pyongyang at an earliest date possible.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told lawmakers that he could not rule out the possibility for the DPRK's long-range rocket fire around Oct. 10, saying that the foreign ministry would make efforts to prevent the DPRK from making any other provocations by cooperating with the international society.

Meanwhile, Minister Han said that the defense authorities were preparing for possible military talks with the DPRK as follow-up measures to the Aug. 25 agreement.

Han said that the inter-Korean military dialogue could be held as the Aug. 25 agreement promised to hold inter-government talks, noting that internal workings, including an agenda setting, were being made as such talks can happen at any time. Endi