By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
South Korea is reviewing full participation in a U.S.-led program to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) after North Korea launched a long-range rocket, a South Korean official said Sunday.
Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan has been seeking countermeasures and cooperation with allies such as the United States and Japan.
``We are moving based on our own schedule, but you can understand it as a plan already sitting on a conveyor belt,'' an anonymous official was quoted as saying by the Yonhap News Agency.
Seoul initially planned to become a member of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) right after the announced rocket launch. But it shelved participation because the ``satellite'' launch has yet to be confirmed successful.
The PSI initiated by the former Bush administration in 2003 is partially aimed at preventing the communist state from gaining WMD by intercepting ships suspected of carrying either weapons or weapon materials.
Pyongyang had issued threats of an armed response against participation.
Seoul had refrained from expanding its role in the initiative, which currently has 74 member nations in a bid to act as an neutral observer and at the same time avoid irritating the secretive state.
Meanwhile, Yu met with U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens to talk about future course of action over the rocket firing.
The ambassador noted the launch is an apparent violation of a U.N. resolution and thus, corresponding measures would be taken, reiterating that the international community has expressed concern over the action.
The United States plans to called on members of the denuclearization six-party talks and the UNSC to cooperate in countermeasures, she added.
Yu also shared the view with Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone that UNSC measures are necessary to cope with the issue, ministry officials said.
He talked with U.S. counterpart Hillary Clinton over the telephone to discuss what measures should be taken in the future.
Shortly after the rocket was fired, the Seoul government issued a statement expressing dire concern, calling the launch ``provocative action.''
``The North's rocket launch is a clear violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718. Whatever it claims, the firing is a provocation threatening the stability and peace of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia,'' the foreign minister read in a statement.
He continued, ``Our government and international society are deeply disappointed at the launch which cost massive amounts of money that could have been spent to resolve chronic food shortages.''