Report: N. Korea May Have Fired Missile

AP Via Yahoo ^ | 5/1/05

[Raycpa]

Report: N. Korea May Have Fired Missile

1 hour, 20 minutes ago

The U.S. military informed Japan that North Korea may have fired a short-range missile toward the Sea of Japan on Sunday morning, Kyodo News service and national broadcaster NHK reported.

The reports quoted unidentified government sources as saying that the U.S. military informed Japan's Defense Agency of the possible missile launch. The government was attempting to confirm the information, the reports said.

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and the U.S. military both refused to comment, and an official at the Japanese Defense Agency said he could not confirm the report. The South Korean defense ministry also said it could not confirm the account.

NHK said the missile was believed to have been fired from the reclusive nation's east coast and to have traveled 65 miles into the Sea of Japan.

Word of the possible test came just days after a top U.S. military intelligence official told a U.S. Senate committee that North Korea has the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear weapon, a potentially significant advance for the communist state.

Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, in testimony on Thursday, did not specify whether he was talking about a short-range missile or a long-range one that could reach the United States.

Two defense officials later said that U.S. intelligence analysts believe North Korea is several years away from being able to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile that could reach the United States from the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea's missile development program has spurred Japan to join the United States in putting together a joint missile-defense system. North Korea startled Tokyo in 1998 by launching a long-range ballistic missile over the Japanese archipelago and into the Pacific Ocean.

Pyongyang has played upon the threat by intermittently test-firing short-range missiles since then.

The Japanese Cabinet in February approved legislation that would allow the defense chief to order the military to shoot down incoming missiles.

Six-nation talks aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions have been stalled since last June. Washington's top envoy on the issue, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, said on Thursday in South Korea that the North's refusal to return to the talks is a problem but they are still the best way to resolve the matter.

[Raycpa]

North Korea's missile development program has spurred Japan to join the United States in putting together a joint missile-defense system.

I have not heard the rats complain recently about the missile-defense system. Wonder why?

[txradioguy]

(looks outside window at Camp Casey)

Didn't see nothing fly this way.

[leadpenny]

ping

[OldFriend]

This is the second time they have fired a missile in that direction.

Much ado about nothing, IMO.

They think that they can intimidate Dubya, and they think wrong.

[mathluv]

Where is Camp Casey?

Just in case, keep your head down! Stay safe!

[txradioguy]

"Where is Camp Casey?"

Oh 'bout 30 miles south of the DMZ.

Trust me I'm staying low.

[mathluv]

Thanks for the info - and do watch that head --- and the rest that is attached to it.

[Jackknife]

Seeing your tagline, I am sorry for your recent loss. Stay safe.

[Jackknife]

ping

[txradioguy]

Thanks Jack I appreciate that.

[Cvengr]

Today is a May Day, be alert,..Semper Fi

[txradioguy]

Forgot about that. Good point.

Wonder if they did this as part of the "celebrations"?

[DoctorMichael]

For ALL you do.............

......this Bud's for you.

Be Safe!

[txradioguy]

Thanks Doc....that's a cure for just about all that ails me over here! :D

[dennisw]

China told Kim Jung Il to fire the missile and rattle the Japs cages. Kimmie probably got some Chinese movie stars in return

[End Times Sentinel]

NHK said the missile was believed to have been fired from the reclusive nation's east coast and to have traveled 65 miles into the Sea of Japan.

 

Not to downplay other threats (Seoul, a bomb delivered to a U.S. port via ship), but this is the kind of stuff that makes me very cynical when I hear about NK's ability to fire a missle to our west coast.

Owl_Eagle

(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,

 it was probably sarcasm)

[Leo Carpathian]

Mabee time for another accident in HK?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

FEN Radio would broadcast "Condition Orange"in Tokyo and all us American kids were supposed to stay home.