Friday, April 4, 2003
N Korea says it has right to export missiles
Associated Press Seoul, April 4
North Korea said on Friday it was its sovereign right to export missiles, responding to US sanctions against Pakistani and North Korean companies for their links to each other's missile programmes.
Early this week, Washington imposed two-year penalties on North Korea's Changgwang Sinyong Corp for selling missiles and Pakistan's Khan Research Laboratories for buying them.
The penalties forbid transactions with the US government or American businesses. But the action was largely symbolic because neither company has business contacts with Washington or any firm in the United States.
"We are an independent sovereign state that is not bound by any law from exporting missiles and technology," North Korea's state KCNA news agency said.
The report, monitored by South Korea's Yonhap news agency, said North Korea's missiles are of a "peaceful and defensive nature".
The news agency accused US President George W Bush's administration of using the sanctions to distract attention from anti-Iraq-war protests around the world.
Bush had labelled North Korea, along with Iraq and Iran, as part of an "axis of evil" and accused it of trying to arm itself with weapons of mass destruction.
The sanctions were part of Washington's efforts to try to pressure North Korea into abandoning its suspected nuclear weapons programmes.
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