May 7, 200916 yr From Jane's North Korea threatens to test an ICBM By Doug Richardson 06 May 2009 North Korea has threatened to test intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and to conduct further nuclear-weapon tests unless the UN Sanctions Committee apologises for decisions that Pyongyang sees as a violation of its sovereignty. On 24 April, the committee banned transactions with three North Korean organisations - the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation, the Korea Ryonbong General Corporation and the Tanchon Commercial Bank - and called on UN member states to freeze the assets of the two companies. This move followed the launch by North Korea on 5 April of what it claimed was a satellite launch vehicle. An official statement released by the North Korean foreign ministry on 29 April accused the Sanctions Committee of having "infringed the sovereignty of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea]" and denounced the committee's actions as "illegal provocations". If the UN does not make an immediate apology, "the DPRK will be compelled to take additional self-defensive measures in order to defend its supreme interests. The measures will include nuclear tests and test-firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles." Clues to the current level of North Korean missile technology can be obtained by its 5 April attempt to launch a satellite using a Taepo Dong/Unha 2 vehicle. Although North Korea claimed that the vehicle successfully placed a Kwangmyongsong 2 communications satellite into orbit, later that day US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) announced that although a vehicle had been launched at 22:30 EDT, it had not orbited a satellite.
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