Posted on 02/05/2009 3:19:43 PM PST by shielagolden
U.S. military at ready for missile launch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military is warily watching "rumblings" of a long-range missile test by North Korea and is ready with a range of responses, the commander of U.S. forces in Asia and the Pacific said on Thursday.
"I don't know if they are or are not," Navy Adm. Timothy Keating said in response to South Korean media reports that the communist North is preparing to launch a long-range Taepodong-2 missile, possibly in the direction of Japan.
"We are watching it with a number of other agencies and countries," the Hawaii-based commander told Reuters in an interview at the Pentagon.
"We're going to be prepared in a number of different ways if and when the president tells us to respond," Keating said.
Leading South Korean media outlets quoted Seoul officials as saying preparations were being made for a launch of a Taepodong-2 missile. The missile has a range that could eventually take it as far as Alaska, but has never flown successfully.
Keating, who commands forces that include 28,000 troops in South Korea and 50,000 in Japan, declined to comment on intelligence on the reported missile test. North Korea tested a nuclear device in October 2006.
But he added: "The open-source reporting is probably pretty close to the same sort of information we're getting."
North Korea's recent belligerent rhetoric toward South Korea, its struggling economy, hungry population and the uncertain future of its leadership in the wake of a reported stroke suffered by leader Kim Jong-il made it a "troublesome" factor in the region, Keating said.
"Their unpredictable behavior is a cause of concern," he said.
Oh SAVE US, President Oba-— Oh wait.
Nevermind....
NKorea’s missile test violates UN resolutions: SKorea
11 hours ago
SEOUL (AFP) — South Korea on Thursday warned North Korea to scrap any plans to launch its longest-range missile, saying it would violate United Nations resolutions passed after the last test in 2006.
Officials in Seoul and Washington say there are signs the communist state is preparing to test the Taepodong-2, which has a range of 6,700 kilometres (4,100 miles) and could theoretically reach Alaska.
The reports, based on satellite photos, come amid stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks and rising inter-Korean tensions. The North has scrapped a non-aggression pact with the South and warned of possible conflict.
Pyongyang has also staked out a tough negotiating position in the disarmament talks involving the US and four regional powers.
Seoul’s foreign ministry spokesman noted that the UN Security Council in 2006 adopted resolutions “expressing serious concerns over the North’s missile programme and delivering a firm message.”
“If the North lobs a missile, it would constitute a clear breach of the UN resolution,” said the spokesman, Moon Tae-Young.
The US State Department has said any test would be “provocative” and China Thursday stressed the need for regional stability.
“We hope all the parties can recognise that maintaining stability is in the common interest” of all the people on the Korean peninsula, foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing when asked about the reported missile test plans.
The North carried out long-range missile tests in 1998 and 2006, sparking international condemnation. Experts disagree on whether it is technically capable of fitting missiles with a nuclear warhead.
The Taepodong-2 launched in 2006 failed after 40 seconds, according to US officials. A Seoul government source told Yonhap news agency the missile spotted recently is believed to be a modified version.
A pro-Pyongyang newspaper, in a website report Thursday, noted media speculation about a launch and appeared to suggest it may go ahead in March.
Choson Sinbo, published in Japan, said “massive military exercises” are held every March by US and South Korean forces.
“In light of the current situation, stronger measures are likely to be taken should moves provoking the DPRK (North Korea) and irritating its military continue,” it said.
The North’s relations with South Korea soured last spring after conservative President Lee Myung-Bak took office and rolled back the “sunshine” engagement policy of his liberal predecessors.
Lee linked major economic aid to denuclearisation and said he would review summit pacts signed by the North and his predecessors.
A US expert who visited Pyongyang last month described Lee’s stance on the summit deals as a “disastrous, historic mistake.”
Selig Harrison told a Washington think-tank Wednesday the posture served to “revive North Korean fears that South Korea, the United States and Japan want regime change and absorption.”
The North’s leader, Kim Jong-Il, who turns 67 this month, is widely reported to have suffered a stroke last August. Harrison said hawks have come to dominate defence policy in Pyongyang since then.
“North Korea has suddenly adopted a much harder line (in six-party negotiations) than before and the question is why,” he said.
Though some analysts believe it is a bargaining posture aimed at the new US administration, Harrison stressed the fallout from Kim’s illness and political changes in South Korea as contributing factors.
The academic, confirming earlier reports, said he believes Kim has a greatly reduced work schedule.
“He has turned over day-to-day management of domestic affairs to his brother-in-law Jang Song-Taek and foreign affairs and defence policy is now largely in the hands of hawks in the National Defence Commission,” Harrison said.
The axis of hope.
We know about the administration but what about dear leader's behavior?
Hey, Oboe, what’s your stand on the Strategic Defense Initiative?
Gee, I wonder Obama why that could be? Perhaps Hillary could send in Maddie Halfbright the mother of their bomb to play George Mitchell.
Why don’t we announce that we will test our ABM’s on any N. Korean launch? I mean they’re only tests so everyone would benefit.
That will be the day. He's too busy freeing terrorists to be troubled.
Hmm US treasury seem more appropriate to be at the ready
Nk just wants a small trinket of all that printed paper
We should take advantage of the opportunity to test our anti-missile capabilities by knocking this NK missile out of commission as soon as possible after launch. Doing so would deny them the ballistic data they need to improve their systems, while providing us with needed data to install a working anti-ballistic missile defense in the Pacific.
As I understand it, we have at least 4 different systems that could knock it out in various stages of flight. One of them probably wouldn’t be practical in this instance, but the other 3 could be tested. Of course, if the first one worked, the other 2 wouldn’t have much of a test. :-)
a patrol of just 2 F-22’s outside N.Korea airspace should be able to take out this rocket launch with advanced AARAM missiles before it reaches 3 miles I think.
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