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'Indian, N Korean tests incomparable'
US views Agni test as transparent while North Korea's missile test as highly provocative, reports S Rajagopalan.
The United States has sought to make it clear that India’s Agni missile tests cannot be equated with the widely-condemned tests by the reclusive Kim Jong-il regime in North Korea.
Rejecting any comparison of the two, the Bush administration has underscored the stark contrast between the Indian and North Korean ventures. New Delhi, it noted, went about its test in a “transparent and non-threatening” way, while Pyongyang defied neighbours and fired missiles as a provocation without warning.
“There is a significant difference and a noteworthy difference between India and North Korea. India has pursued its programme in such a way as not to be a threat of provocation to its neighbours,” White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters on Monday.
And India, he pointed out, notified its neighbour, Pakistan, about the Agni-III missile test and also informed the United States in advance about its plan. “It did it in a transparent and non-threatening way.”
In contrast, North Korea “not only defied the express wishes of its neighbours and others in the neighbourhood, it also fired missiles as a provocation, without warning, to others, and therefore, has created the diplomatic activity that you now see,” Snow said adding: “So those are the significant differences between the two.”
Asked if it would have been okay if North Korea had notified the US about its missile tests, Snow replied in the negative, stating that Pyongyang had also pledged a moratorium on these tests.
He pointed out that at the six-party talks last September, the North Koreans had said that “they would dismantle the nuclear weapons programme, while retaining the right, in their words, for a peaceful civilian programme”.
Snow discounted the possibility of the Agni test coming in the way of US Congress approving the Indo-US nuclear deal. “I don’t think so. Again, the auspices under which is was conducted, making sure that everybody was notified in advance, are the sort of things that provide reassurance to people on the Hill,” he said.
The spokesman declined to go into the reasons why India opted to go ahead with a missile test at this juncture, but pointed out: “This was not seen as a provocation by the United States or the Pakistanis. Both of them would have reason to do it. Nor has it precipitated the kind of diplomatic concern.”
The issue figured at the US state department as well, with spokesman coming out with a similar response. “I wouldn’t try to draw any equivalence between India, the world’s largest multiethnic democracy, and North Korea, a closed totalitarian state,” spokesman Sean McCormack said in reply to questions.
