Pyongyang asserts ‘right’ to test-fire missiles

North Korea declared today that it has a right to carry out long-range missile tests, a day after U.S. officials said the Pentagon has activated a new missile defense system and as several countries called for Pyongyang to refrain from launching a missile.

“It is not right for others to tell us what to do about our sovereign rights,” Han Song-ryol, the deputy chief of North Korea’s mission to the United Nations, told a South Korean news agency, although he also said his country was open to talks with the U.S. on the issue.

“The United States says it is concerned about our missile test launch. Our position is, ‘OK then, let us talk about it,’” Mr. Han told Yonhap.

White House officials would not say what the consequences would be if North Korea tested a missile, and officials at the Pentagon and State Department refused to comment on whether the U.S. ground-based interceptor system was up and running, as The Washington Times reported yesterday.

“There are many options, and we are simply not going to tip our hand as to what the possible response should be,” White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters traveling on Air Force One with the president, who landed in Austria yesterday for a meeting with leaders of the European Union today.

National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley said the North Koreans “seem to be moving forward towards a launch, but the intelligence is not conclusive at this point.”

He said, however, that the rogue nation’s moves have unified key U.S. partners in the region, including Japan, which has indicated it might sponsor a United Nations Security Council resolution on the matter.

“A lot of folks are sending messages to the North Koreans this would be a bad idea,” Mr. Hadley said.

Poor weather conditions prevailed yesterday over northeastern North Korea, where U.S. intelligence agencies have been monitoring a long-range Taepodong missile being fueled at a base along the east coast, U.S. officials said.

The missile is thought to be a Taepodong-2 capable of hitting part of U.S. territory. The North also claims to have built nuclear weapons.

Bush administration officials said Monday that the new ground-based interceptor missile defense system is operational and that one option being considered if a missile is launched is to shoot it down with one of 11 interceptors deployed at Fort Greeley, Alaska, or Vandenberg Air Force Base in Southern California.

Amid heightened tensions over the North Korean plans, the U.S. military is conducting its largest war games in decades. Three U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups are exercising near the Pacific island of Guam as part of the maneuvers.

The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency also has planned a sea-based missile defense test from an Aegis cruiser near Hawaii for today.

The North’s declaration prompted Japan and South Korea to pledge cooperation to thwart the test plans.

In China, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu urged “all parties” to act in ways helpful to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, but did not publicly call on North Korea to call off its launch.

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