DPRK defends its satellite launch plan

PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) asserts that planned launch of Satellite Kwangmyongsong-3 not contradictory to DPRK-US Agreement, the official news agency KCNA reported Monday.

It said that South Korea media, busy with "odd smear campaign" over the issue of DPRK's satellite launch, have claimed the Satellite Kwangmyongsong-3 is an inter-continental ballistic missile and a violation of the agreement reached at the DPRK-US high-level talks on February 29.

According to the KCNA, South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo said that "the north reduced the DPRK-US agreement to a scrap of paper in 15 days", and KBS (Korean Broadcasting Station) said "this showed the north's will to take initiative, while boosting its negotiating power".

The KCNA noted that the DPRK has already decided to put moratorium on nuclear test, long-range missile launch and uranium enrichment in Nyongbyon "while fruitful talks are under way and allow the IAEA to monitor it".

The DPRK's plan for satellite launch "poses no problem as it is prompted by its noble desire to put the country's science and technology on a higher level," it said, adding that it is an issue fundamentally different from that of a long-range missile.

The DPRK has asserted its legitimate right of launching satellites, manufactured by itself to mark the 100th birthday of late President Kim Il Sung, in mid-April.

Shortly after the DPRK announced the planned satellite launch, the United States said it will be hard to provide food aid if Pyongyang moves ahead with the launch.