Pyongyang's missile pledge was brought to the fore immediately prior to the commencement of the January talks. The Korean Central News Agency, the press organ of the North Korean government, quoted a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official who indicated that the January 18 test of the U.S. national missile defense system could lead to the resumption of Pyongyang's missile program. "The U.S. behavior has compelled the DPRK to take our moratorium into a serious consideration. We will make an appropriate decision, watching its future movement," he said.
The meeting also followed another minor controversy about the relative sophistication of North Korea's missile program. Commercial satellite photographs first made public January 3 by the Cable News Network revealed a primitive missile facility lacking several components commonly associated with Western test programs, including rail links, substantial infrastructure and propellant storage areas, suggesting the danger from North Korea might not be as great as Washington has maintained. State Department spokesman James Rubin dismissed the notion that the threat was exaggerated: "It is our judgment from a panoply of intelligence sources and methods...that there is a genuine threat and a risk from the potential missile program of North Korea."
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