By VOA News
29 April 2009
North Korea has threatened to hold a nuclear test and a test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile if the United Nations Security Council does not apologize for criticizing a controversial rocket launch by Pyongyang earlier this month.
On Wednesday, state media carried a statement from the foreign ministry that said the North would be compelled to take measures for self-defense if an apology was not made immediately.
North Korea also demanded that the Security Council withdraw all resolutions against it for previous missile and nuclear tests.
The Security Council first imposed sanctions on Pyongyang after it launched a ballistic missile over Japan in July of 2006 and held a nuclear test a few months later that year.
Last Friday, the United Nations imposed additional sanctions on three North Korean companies for aiding Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programs.
Already North Korea has withdrawn from six-party international talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program, and kicked out international nuclear inspectors from its main Yongbyon nuclear complex.
The rocket launch was considered a violation of the 2006 U.N. Security Council resolutions even though North Korea claimed the launch helped put a satellite into space.
The United States, Russia, China, South Korea and Japan have been negotiating with Pyongyang for years to try to get it to eliminate its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for aid and energy.
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