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Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Rebels congratulate North Korea for successful nuclear test (5:09 p.m.)
MANILA -- Communist rebels in the Philippines heaped praise Tuesday on North Korea for its first-ever nuclear test -- a rare pat on the back for the communist state that has been hit by a flurry of condemnation.
The underground Communist Party of the Philippines, which has waged a 37-year insurgency, hailed the test as "a militant assertion of national sovereignty and the right of an independent country to develop its own powerful self-reliant defense capability," said a statement by rebel spokesman Gregorio Rosal.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in a second statement in as many days condemning North Korea's proclaimed nuclear test, said her government joined the rest of the world in urging Pyongyang "to drop its continued development of weapons of mass destruction and to shift its focus on regional collaboration rather than intimidation."
"Freedom is at risk and the Philippines is within striking distance," she said, adding that such tests threatened global peace and stability.
Arroyo, a staunch US ally, has been regularly lambasted by communist rebels.
Peace talks aimed at ending the Maoist insurgency broke down two years ago, and government forces have intensified counterinsurgency operations. (AP) |
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