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North Korea Warned Over Missile Testing

North Korea was warned this weekend not to test ballistic missiles capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States, this after observations of the closed-off, Stalinist dictatorship indicated that preparations were underway for a test launch. Both the United States and Japan expressed concern, stating that if the Democratic People?s Republic of Korea (North Korea?s ?official? name) tested missiles they would press for punitive actions in the United Nations Security Council.

North Korea is bound in part by its own 1999 moratorium on long-range ballistic missile tests, though the small Asian nation has conducted several short-range tests in past years. Several missile tests have sent rockets over Japan, severely alarming Tokyo and ally Washington. Current worries about North Korean missile tests are coupled with the knowledge, after Pyongyang?s own admission, that the nation violated nuclear agreements and developed its own nuke program and weapons.

North Korea, like Iran and the now deposed Saddam Hussein?s Iraq, is included by President George W. Bush as one of the ?Axis of Evil? nations. North Korea shares close relations with its neighbor to the north, the communist People?s Republic of China. Relations with South Korea range from outright hostility to cautious reconciliation, several meetings have occurred on the Korean Peninsula and family meetings have taken place between families separated after the 1950s Korean War. Both the United States and ally the Republic of Korea (South Korea) are committed to a nuclear weapons-free Korean Peninsula.