지금은 여유롭게 다른나라 정치나 비판하고 있을때가 아니라고 봅니다. 워싱턴타임즈, 한국정부 강력 비난 서울 관리들은 북한의 단거리 미사일 발사와 지하 핵실험 징후의 중요성을 희석시키고 있다. 반면 미국 등의 대북 행보가 북한과의 긴장을 고조시킬 것에 대해 걱정하고 있다. 지난 일요일 일본을 향해 날린 미사일은 핵탄두를 장착할 수 없는 것이며, 북핵과는 아무런 연관이 없는 것이라고 그 의미를 희석시킨다. 함경북도의 지하핵실험 움직임에 대해서도 아무 것도 아니라고 일축했다. 북한의 최근 행보는 단지 미국과의 협상력을 높이기 위한 것이라고 주장한다. 그러나 미국은 북한의 행위를 이런 의도로 생각하고 있지 않으며. 북한의 움직임 하나하나를 모두 국제적 명분을 축적하는 데 사용하고 있다. 한국관리들은 일본이 기울어져 가는 북한 경제에 새로운 제재를 가할 것에 대해 매우 염려한다. 미국과 일본은 제5차 6자회담이 결렬된지 만 1년이 되는 6월을 데드라인으로 생각하고 있다. 일본은 UN 안보리 절차 없이 이미 경제봉쇄를 시작했다. 일본은 경제 제재 이외에 또 다른 제제 메커니즘도 동원하고 있다. 미국은 일본의 이러한 협력을 배경으로 해상봉쇄에 들어갔다. 워싱턴타임즈는 한국정부가 계속해서 북한을 감싸고 있다며 사례를 들어 가면서 맹비난하고 있다. --------------------------------------------------------------- Analysis: North Korea raises the stakes By Jong-Heon Lee UPI Correspondent Seoul, South Korea, May. 3 (UPI) -- South Korean officials are playing down the significance of North Korea's missile test and signs of its imminent nuclear test, but they are much concerned that the series of moves would further raise nuclear tensions on the peninsula. The say North Korea's launch of a missile on Sunday was a short-range weapon incapable of carrying a nuclear warhead and not related to Pyongyang's drive for atomic bombs. Government officials also dismissed on Tuesday reports by a local daily that the North Korea was preparing to conduct an underground nuclear test in one of its northeastern towns. But the missile test came at an especially worrisome time, with concerns that Pyongyang is moving forward with its nuclear weapons program as it has shut down a nuclear reactor, possibly to harvest more weapons-grade plutonium. The new report that U.S. intelligence authorities detected signs that North Korea was preparing for an underground nuclear test also was the latest in a string of signs and analysts' predictions that the communist state is moving towards a nuclear test. South Korean officials believe the North's moves are tactics to raise the stakes in the nuclear standoff, hoping for a better deal from the United States. But the Bush administration has ignored the North Korean ploys and apparently used them to muster international support for tougher actions against the Kim Jong Il regime. The Seoul government is especially concerned that Japan may use the fresh signs to impose sanctions on North Korea, which could worsen its already faltering economy. Washington has reportedly warned Japan that North Korea might be ready to conduct an underground nuclear test as early as June. News reports have also said that the United States and Japan were considering a deadline of June -- the one-year anniversary of the last round of talks -- for North Korea to return to the multilateral talks. Tokyo has already been empowered to impose trade sanctions on North Korea under the revised Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law, which was passed in February and removed the restriction that the measure must be accompanied by a U.N. Security Council resolution. Japan has another mechanism in place to pressure North Korea. Washington backed by Tokyo has launched the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), which allows for the seizure of missiles and other potential components of weapons of mass destruction shipped from North Korea or other countries of concern. Tokyo was alerted on Sunday when North Korea test-fired a missile toward to the Japanese mainland. It was stunned in 1998 when North Korea launched a Taepodong-1 missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. Japanese Defense Agency Director General Yoshinori Ono played down Sunday's missile test as posing no danger to Japan, but criticized North Korea, saying: "Why would they have to conduct such a test when suspicions over nuclear and missile development have been cast over them?" Some Japanese diplomats consider the North's missile test as a warning that it could launch longer missiles if Japan imposes a maritime blockade against the isolated communist neighbor. South Korean officials quickly played down the missile test, saying it involved a short-range weapon unable to reach as far as Japan and with no link to Pyongyang's nuclear programs. "The missile that North Korea fired is a short-range missile, and is far from the one that can carry a nuclear weapon," Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon told Seoul's official Yonhap News Agency. "This is not a case to be linked to the nuclear dispute," he said. Other officials said the missile is presumed to be a surface-to-ship guided missile with a range of up to 160 kilometers, but it flew 120 kilometers on Sunday's test, which came at the end of a routine military exercise. The Defense Ministry, which refused to confirm the North's missile test even after the White House confirmed it, quickly held a news briefing on Tuesday in which it dismissed a new report that North Korea is preparing to conduct an underground nuclear test in one of its northeastern towns. Earlier that day, South Korea's largest daily Chosun Ilbo, said the United States has detected signs that North Korea may be planning to conduct a nuclear test in Kiljoo in North Hamkyong Province, near the east coast facing Japan. Chosun Ilbo citied a government source as saying that a U.S. reconnaissance satellite has taken pictures of the movement of trucks, cranes and other equipment in a Kiljoo location and that U.S. authorities gave its satellite pictures and an analysis of the images to South Korea. But Seoul's Defense Ministry denied it was given U.S. satellite pictures. "We have received no such intelligence from the United States, nor seen any signs of such activity in the area," said the ministry spokesman Shin Hyun-don. South Korea and the United States have been closely watching the area around Kiljoo after detecting signs that massive excavation works have been under way to build a tunnel there since the late 1990s, he said. "Anything unusual concerning a nuclear test has not been detected in Kiljoo," Shin said. Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung also told journalists that the military "has not yet seen any signs" of a nuclear test in the North. The ministry, however, said it did not know the purpose of the tunnel in Kilju. Some analysts said the truck and other equipment movement at the suspected nuclear site are aimed at drawing U.S. attentions by heightening the stakes in the nuclear impasse. "North Koreans know well such movements would be easily detected by U.S. satellites. Their purpose is to seek to attract U.S. attention for a big deal," said a defense analyst who requesting anonymity. "The U.S. side knows Pyongyang's tactics as well, and that's why Washington has dismissed North Korea's act of brinkmanship," said Kim Jae-chon, a professor at Seoul's Sogang University. "As North Korea raises the stakes in the nuclear standoff, it becomes easier for the United States to win international support for punitive actions," he said.