Park urges N. Korea to scrap long

South Korean President Park Geun-hye urged North Korea Monday not to go ahead with a long-range rocket launch in the latest pressure on the hard-line communist country.

"North Korea should make efforts to ensure its people can get out of difficulties through reform and openness rather than" carrying out an additional provocation, Park said in an address to the U.N. General Assembly.

Still, North Korea has defied international pressure and renewed its resolve to carry out the launch to put a satellite into orbit, calling it an exercise of its sovereign right.

There is speculation that North Korea could launch a long-range rocket in October to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party.

Seoul and Washington view a satellite launch as a cover for testing the North's ballistic missile technology, which is banned under U.N. resolutions.

A new rocket launch, if carried out, could prompt the U.N. to further tighten sanctions on North Korea, which has long been under an array of U.S. and international sanctions for its missile and nuclear tests.

Park said a rocket launch could harm the hard-won atmosphere of dialogue between South and North Korea and undermine the efforts to resume the long-stalled talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Last month, South and North Korea produced a breakthrough deal that defused tensions on the Korean Peninsula and set the stage for temporary reunions for families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War.

"We must no longer use political and military reasons as excuses for turning a blind eye to humanitarian issues, such as reunion of separated families in particular," Park said.

Park also called on the international community to concentrate efforts on ending North Korea's nuclear program, citing a recent nuclear deal reached between the United States, five other world powers and Iran.

North Korea pledged to scrap its nuclear programs in exchange for diplomatic concessions and economic aid under a landmark 2005 nuclear deal with South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.

Still, the North later backtracked from its commitment and conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, drawing international condemnation and U.N. sanctions. (Yonhap)

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