China concerned over missile issue
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-22 19:23
South Korea's Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok said Thursday it was still
unclear whether the North would test-fire a missile but that the "government is
getting ready for all possibilities," according to his aide Kim Sung-bae.
Amid the tension, foreign businessmen toured a joint industrial zone in North
Korea that is a centerpiece of reconciliation efforts between the two Koreas.
North Korean officials sent to act as interpreters and guides for the visitors
to Kaesong, just north of the heavily armed inter-Korean border, parried queries
about the missile issue.
"We are a peaceful country," Chang Mi Son, wearing a white dress with a badge
depicting North Korea's founding ruler Kim Il Sung, said in fluent English.
Meanwhile, about 1,000 people including army veterans and activists staged an
anti-North Korea rally in Seoul, condemning the North's missile threat and
denouncing now-canceled plans by former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung to
visit Pyongyang.
Some activists set a North Korean flag on fire and displayed several replicas
of a North Korean missile, including one with crossed-out photos of North Korean
leader Kim Jong Il and the country's flag.
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