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North Korea plans to launch a long-range ballistic missile towardHawaii in July



 
 
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Old June 19th 09, 04:00 AM posted to us.military.navy,rec.aviation.military.naval,sci.military.naval
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Default North Korea plans to launch a long-range ballistic missile towardHawaii in July

TOKYO — North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward
Hawaii in early July, a Japanese news report said Thursday, as Russia
and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament
talks on its rogue nuclear program.

The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000
miles, would be launched from North Korea's Dongchang-ni site on the
northwestern coast, said the Yomiuri daily, Japan's top-selling
newspaper. It cited an analysis by the Japanese Defense Ministry and
intelligence gathered by U.S. reconnaissance satellites.

The missile launch could come between July 4 and 8, given the North's
propensity to launch on U.S. holidays. July 8 is also the anniversary
of former leader's Kim Il Sung's death.

As of late Wednesday night, however, there was no satellite imagery
suggesting North Korea had yet stacked or staged a Taepodong-2 missile
at either the Dongchang-ni site on its northwest coast or at its
Musudan-ni facility on its northeast coast.

Trains are regularly running from North Korea's Tongnim missile
factory to both the northwest and northeast launch pads, but there is
speculation by South Korean officials that some may be empty and
designed to confuse foreign intelligence agencies which the North
knows are watching from the skies.

While the newspaper speculated the Taepodong-2 could fly over Japan
and toward Hawaii, it said the missile would not be able to hit
Hawaii's main islands, which are about 4,500 miles from the Korean
peninsula.

A spokesman for the Japanese Defense Ministry declined to comment on
the report. South Korea's Defense Ministry and the National
Intelligence Service — the country's main spy agency — said they could
not confirm it.

Tension on the divided Korean peninsula has spiked since the North
conducted its second nuclear test on May 25 in defiance of repeated
international warnings. The regime declared Saturday it would bolster
its nuclear programs and threatened war in protest of U.N. sanctions
taken for the nuclear test.

U.S. officials have said the North has been preparing to fire a long-
range missile capable of striking the western U.S. In Washington on
Tuesday, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, said it would take at least three to five years for North Korea
to pose a real threat to the U.S. west coast.
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President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met in
Washington on Tuesday for a landmark summit in which they agreed to
build a regional and global "strategic alliance" to persuade North
Korea to dismantle all its nuclear weapons. Obama declared North Korea
a "grave threat" to the world and pledged that the new U.N. sanctions
on the communist regime will be aggressively enforced.

In Seoul, Vice Unification Minister Hong Yang-ho told a forum Thursday
that the North's moves to strengthen its nuclear programs is "a very
dangerous thing that can fundamentally change" the regional security
environment. He said the South Korean government is bracing for "all
possible scenarios" regarding the nuclear standoff.

The independent International Crisis Group think tank, meanwhile, said
the North's massive stockpile of chemical weapons is no less serious a
threat to the region than its nuclear arsenal.

It said the North is believed to have between 2,500 and 5,000 tons of
chemical weapons, including mustard gas, phosgene, blood agents and
sarin. These weapons can be delivered with ballistic missiles and long-
range artillery and are "sufficient to inflict massive civilian
casualties on South Korea."

"If progress is made on rolling back Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions,
there could be opportunities to construct a cooperative diplomatic
solution for chemical weapons and the suspected biological weapons
program," the think tank said in a report released Thursday.

It also called on the U.S. to engage the North in dialogue to defuse
the nuclear crisis, saying "diplomacy is the least bad option." The
think tank said Washington should be prepared to send a high-level
special envoy to Pyongyang to resolve the tension.

In a rare move, leaders of Russia and China used their meetings in
Moscow on Wednesday to pressure the North to return to the nuclear
talks and expressed "serious concerns" about tension on the Korean
peninsula.

The joint appeal appeared to be a signal that Moscow and Beijing are
growing impatient with Pyongyang's stubbornness. Northeastern China
and Russia's Far East both border North Korea, and Pyongyang's
unpredictable actions have raised concern in both countries.

After meetings at the Kremlin, Chinese President Hu Jintao joined
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in urging a peaceful resolution of
the Korean standoff and the "swiftest renewal" of the now-frozen talks
involving their countries as well as North and South Korea, Japan and
the United States.

"Russia and China are ready to foster the lowering of tension in
Northeast Asia and call for the continuation of efforts by all sides
to resolve disagreements through peaceful means, through dialogue and
consultations," their statement said.

The comments — contained in a lengthy statement that discussed other
global issues — included no new initiatives, but it appeared to be
carefully worded to avoid provoking Pyongyang. In remarks after their
meetings, Medvedev made only a brief reference to North Korea, and Hu
did not mention it.

South Korea's Lee said Wednesday in Washington that was essential for
China and Russia to "actively cooperate" in getting the North to give
up its nuclear program, suggesting the North's bombs program may
trigger a regional arms race.

"If we acknowledge North Korea possessing nuclear programs, other non-
nuclear countries in Northeast Asia would be tempted to possess
nuclear weapons and this would not be helpful for stability in
Northeast Asia," Lee said in a meeting with former U.S. officials and
Korea experts, according to his office.


http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090618/D98T1AR00.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,527020,00.html
 




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