"In case of military missiles, South Korea will make utmost efforts to secure such ranges as necessary to meet the demand for military security," a South Korean foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.

"Our position is also that there should be no range ceilings on Seoul's developing rockets for civilian and scientific purposes."

Seoul's call came one day before the United States and South Korea sit down in Hawaii for a fresh round of tricky negotiations over Seoul's bid to extend its missile range to thwart any North Korean threat.

But North Korea at the weekend slammed Seoul's ballistic ambitions, warning Pyongyang could restart its missile tests, frozen under an accord with the United States last September aimed at improving their hostile ties.

"It is quite natural for the DPRK (North Korea) to equip itself with self-defensive means so as to keep its security under the ... situation in which the country and nation are exposed to threat.," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Pyongyang also threatened it would take "countermeasures" against South Korea, which the Stalinst state accused of seeking" to justify their development of inter-continental ballistic missiles."

"We will immediately and unhesitatingly take a strong countermeasures against the South Korean authorities' satellite launch programme, when it is confirmed," KCNA said.

In comments mirroring those uttered against Pyongyang by Seoul and its allies when it launched a medium-range missile in 1998, KCNA also accused Seoul of using its satellite launch program to disuise its missile plans.

Song Min-Soon, head of the foreign ministry's North American affairs bureau, left for Hawaii Monday to reopen negotiations with US assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation, Robert Einhorn, in two-day talks.

President Kim Dae-Jung has said he wants to boost Seoul's military missile range to as much as 500 kilometers (312 miles).

Washington and Seoul have held a series of bumpy talks over whether South Korea should be allowed to possess longer-range missiles capable of hitting targets deep inside North Korea.

The difficult talks have dragged on amid US concerns of sparking an arms race in this volatile region where North and South share the world's last Cold War frontier.

Yonhap News Agency here, however, reported the United States and South Korea were heading towards finalizing a deal on the missile range issue.

"This meeting will be the one before a final conclusion on the issue is reached, so the details will be intensively addressed," the agency quoted an unnamed foreign ministry official as saying.

But officials in Seoul denied the report.

"As far as I know, we did not give such a hasty prediction on the results of the upcoming talks," a spokesman said.

In an agreement with Washington in 1972, South Korea's missile range ceiling was set at 180 kilometers.

Under the pact, Seoul promised to abide by US-led global rules aimed at limiting the spread of weapons of mass destruction in return for the supply of US missile technology.

But South Korea, still technically at war with North Korea, now wants to boost the range to 300 kilometers for deployment and 500 kilometers for scientific research and development.

Seoul has complained its existing missiles cannot hit any targets beyond the Pyongyang, falling far short of its perceived need to have North Korea's entire territory within range.

Stalinist North Korea test-launched a medium-range Taepodong I missile over Japan in August 1998 claiming it was a rocket launched it said was aimed at putting a satellite into orbit, a move that alarmed Washington and its allies.

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MILSPACE
US, South Korea To Hold Missile Talks
Seoul (AFP) February 2, 2000 - The United States and South Korea will next week hold a fresh round of tricky negotiations over Seoul's bid to extend its missile range to thwart North Korea's military threat, officials said Wednesday.

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