N. Korean media claims foreign backing for satellite launch

(ATTN: UPDATES with N.K.'s English statement, RECASTS header)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, April 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's state news agency said Sunday that it
has the full backing of foreign powers for its satellite launch and criticized
U.S. moves against it, but it gave no word yet about the launch itself.
North Korea fired what it has called is a communications satellite at 11:30 a.m.
local time from a launch pad on its northeastern coast, according to government
officials of South Korea and other neighboring countries.
In an English language dispatch that came about three hours after the launch, the
Korean Central News Agency said, "The DPRK (North Korea)'s projected satellite
launch for peaceful purposes has been supported by political parties and
organizations in different countries."
The report, published in Korean earlier, made no mention of the launch taking place.
North Korea has said the launch is part of its space development program, while
regional countries suspect it might be a disguised long-range missile technology
test.
The North Korean report quoted several supportive statements that it said were
issued by foreign groups ahead of the launch, including the "Secretariat of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union" that "expressed
deep apprehension over the reckless moves being made by the United States and its
followers to hinder the launch" in a statement on March 31.
The Russian statement echoed North Korea's claim that any U.N. moves to punish
the launch will violate a nuclear disarmament accord on the "spirit of mutual
respect and equality." The accord refers to a landmark 2005 accord reached by the
two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia to end North Korea's nuclear
weapons program.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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