North Korea said to be deploying missiles

Rueters ^ | 1 hour, 3 minutes ago | Mark Heinrich and Jack Kim

[BenLurkin]

North Korea deployed more than 10 missiles on its west coast apparently for an imminent test launch, a South Korean newspaper said on Thursday, and Pyongyang halted U.N. monitoring of its nuclear complex.

The potentially destabilizing moves followed reports that the United States had offered to remove North Korea from its terrorism blacklist this month in an effort to keep a nuclear disarmament pact from falling apart.

It would be an unprecedented test if North Korea fired all 10 of the surface-to-ship and ship-to-ship missiles. Intelligence sources quoted by the Chosun Ilbo paper said they thought the North may launch five to seven of them.

North Korea has forbidden ships to sail in an area in the Yellow Sea until October 15 in preparation for the launch, an intelligence source told the paper.

A South Korean defense ministry official declined to comment on the report but said the government had no indication of unusual activity in the North.

The United States urged North Korea not to do anything, including launching missiles, that would make matters worse. "We would urge North Korea to avoid any steps that increase tension on the peninsula," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

He said actions by Pyongyang in the last month had not been helpful, but added: "What they have done thus far is reversible. They can take a different set of decisions. We urge them to do so."

The halt to U.N. monitoring throughout the Yongbyon nuclear complex was a significant step toward scrapping the pact to dismantle its atomic bomb programed, officials and diplomats said at the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has today informed IAEA inspectors that effective immediately, access to facilities at Yongbyon would no longer be permitted," IAEA spokesman Marc Vidricaire said...

[BenLurkin]

"The DPRK also stated that has stopped its disablement work, which was initially agreed upon within the Six-Party Talks," he said.

[Boiling Pots]

0bama has said more than once he’s going to shut down the missile defense program, as it is “unproven.”

So why hasn’t McCain hit him with this??

[ClearCase_guy]

The potentially destabilizing moves followed reports that the United States had offered to remove North Korea from its terrorism blacklist this month in an effort to keep a nuclear disarmament pact from falling apart.

How's the whole "diplomacy" thing working out?

[mkjessup]

Hey no sweat, the GWB Express train to Legacyville is just about to leave the station. Let the next guy worry about it.

[b4its2late]

We should take them out before they have a chance to test fire them.

[lucky american]

Look, the world is hurting now with this financial mess and they are blaming it all on the US. Does anyone here think that destabilizing the rest of the world might help there cause as the US will have limited recourses to combat these crazies?

[lucky american]

there?
their

[VRWCmember]

We should deploy some THAAD and PAC-3 missiles to the area to take advantage of an opportunity to conduct some spontaneous intercept tests.

[lentulusgracchus]

Works for me. Exercise the Nav and give Chia Head a haircut.

[2001convSVT]

Or at least several Aegis equipped ships to practice tracking, lock-on and (simulated) shoot down. I say simulated because I don't want to reveal how advance the US Navy is, and we can use this opportunity to study North Korea missiles in flight (flight chareristics, what frequencies are used and the missile's ability to evade).

[CWW]

OK, DUMB A$$ DEMOCRATS -- Guess we now know what North Korea thinks of your 6-party talks and "diplomacy".

And President Bush -- You know better. You have no excuse.