North Korea’s Vice-Minister Kim Hyong Jun arrived at the Union Buildings on Tuesday for bilateral discussions with Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad.
High on the agenda of the meeting, that is expected to last just over two hours, would be North Korea’s test firing of seven missiles last week including a long-range Taepodong-2, believed to be able to hit Alaska or Hawaii.
Pahad said last week, after meeting with Japan’s senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Yasuhisa Shiozaki, he would urge North Korea to stop its missile testing and to return to the six-party talks.
Japan’s has been pushing for United Nations Security Council sanctions to be imposed on North Korea after the missile test. The Security Council on Monday put off a vote on the tough draft resolution that would slap sanctions on North Korea to give the Chinese a chance to try and resolve the issue.
Japan has asked South Africa to take up the issue with North Korea through its diplomatic links with the country.
Pahad said South Africa was not in favour of UN imposed sanctions on North Korea but would urge the country to stop it’s testing and return to talks.
Those involved in the talks are the United State, Russia, Japan, South Korea, China and North Korea. They have been trying to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programme in return for some economic and other investments.
‘North Korea can launch missiles whenever it wishes’
Meanwhile, North Korea could be preparing for new launches of mid-range missiles, with activity detected at its bases, a report said on Tuesday citing Japanese government sources.
US and Japanese satellite photos show that mid-range Rodong missiles had been set up on launch pads at a base in south-eastern North Korea, but were later removed, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported.
Fuel tanks could be seen near the launch pads, the report said. It said the satellite photos were taken after last week’s tests of seven missiles, but did not give a specific date.
”We think North Korea can launch missiles whenever it wishes,” the top-selling daily quoted a government source as saying.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso on Sunday suggested Tokyo would have the right to launch a pre-emptive strike to protect its citizens from a missile launch by Pyongyang.
He said there were ”visible signs” of activity at a North Korean missile base from which North Korea launched a Rodong missile last week.
Japan submitted a draft binding resolution in the Security Council that would impose sanctions on North Korea over the missile tests. But on Monday, the Security Council put off a vote on the resolution to allow more time for Chinese diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis. – Sapa-AFP