North Korea Test-Fires Two Missiles

[American Patriot]

North Korea seen to be preparing to fire Taepodong missile: source
Kyodo News (Japan) ^ | May 19, 2006

North Korea is seen to be preparing to fire a missile, which could be a Taepodong ballistic missile, a source in Tokyo familiar with the North Korean situation said Friday.

The move is seen near a launch site in northeastern North Korea, the source said.

North Korea fired a Taepodong missile in August 1998, part of which flew over the Japanese archipelago before falling into the Pacific Ocean.

[American Patriot]

North Korea hedges on nuclear deal
Washington Times ^ | Sept. 20, 2005 | Jae-Soon Chang

SEOUL -- North Korea said today that it would not dismantle its nuclear-weapons program until the United States first provides an atomic energy reactor, casting doubt on its commitment to a breakthrough agreement reached at international arms talks.

The North's Foreign Ministry made the surprise demand a day after it had agreed at six-nation talks in Beijing to give up its arms efforts.

The North insisted during arms talks that began last week in Beijing that it be given a light-water reactor, a type less easily diverted for weapons use, in exchange for abandoning nuclear weapons. The agreement reached at the talks' end yesterday in Beijing -- the first since the negotiations began in August 2003 -- said the six countries in the negotiations will discuss the reactor issue "at an appropriate time."

(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...

[Sean Osborne]

I say we shoot the sucker down with an Aegis BMD cruiser like the USS Lake Erie (CG-70) in a real-time, real-world test of our own capabilities.

[American Patriot]

Won't be an Aegis cruiser. Will be a missile. But, the point is, that has been suggested Sean. lol

[American Patriot]

North Korea Completes Fueling for Missile
By ANNE GEARAN , 06.19.2006, 01:04 PM

North Korea has apparently finished loading fuel into a long-range ballistic missile, Bush administration officials said Monday as signs continued that the reclusive communist state will soon test a weapon that could reach the United States.

U.S. intelligence indicates that the long-range missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2, is assembled and fully fueled, said two officials, who requested anonymity because the information comes from sensitive intelligence methods.

That reportedly gives the North a launch window of about a month. Unlike other preparatory steps the United States has tracked, the fueling process is very difficult to reverse, and most likely means the test will go ahead, another senior administration official said.

The precise timing is unclear, the official said.

The United States assumes North Korea would only perform a test, not fire the weapon as an act of war, and could claim afterward that it was launching a space mission, the official said. That would still be considered a violation of the moratorium North Korea has observed since 1999, the official said.

The test would probably take place over water, not land, and occur during daylight hours, the official said. North Korea is 14 hours ahead of the East Coast.

The United States would probably know "within seconds" that a launch had taken place, the official said.

"It's big, it shakes, and we have a lot of ways to watch and listen," the official said.

At the Pentagon, spokesman Bryan Whitman would not comment on whether U.S. intelligence indicates that the North Koreans are preparing for a possible missile launch. Whitman said the Pentagon uses the term "launch," instead of test, because of the possibility that the North Koreans have hostile intent.

"`Test' would imply that you know the intentions. We don't know the intentions," he said.

Whitman would not say whether the United States might activate its missile defense systems in the event of a North Korean launch.

Although the three-stage Taepodong 2 could theoretically reach the U.S. West Coast, most experts think North Korea is still a long way off from perfecting the technology that would make the missile accurate and able to carry a nuclear payload.

Robert Zoellick, the departing deputy secretary of state, said North Korea's fueling of the missile became known only recently.

"I don't know if they will proceed" with the test, Zoellick told reporters in a farewell interview at the State Department.

At U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said he was holding preliminary consultations with Security Council members on steps that might be taken if North Korea fires a missile, "because it would obviously be very serious."

"But we don't really know what the North Korean intentions are at this point, so I think we need to wait for the event," he said.

"Obviously the first preference is that the North Koreans not light the missile off," Bolton said, noting that the United States, Japan, Australia, South Korea and other countries had urged North Korea to abandon any missile firing.

Aboard Air Force One with President Bush, White House spokesman Tony Snow declined specific comment on reports that the fueling is complete.

"North Korea has imposed a moratorium on launching missiles," Snow said. "We hope it will continue that moratorium and we hope it also will abide by commitments it made," last year to dismantle nuclear weapons and renounce further development of them.

Snow said President Bush has made some of the administration's recent telephone calls to more than a dozen heads of state about the indications of a coming launch.

Snow would not identify which leaders spoke with Bush. He also said U.S. officials have talked directly with North Korean representatives in New York, a reference to a diplomatic channel through the North's United Nations mission. Snow would not disclose contents of the discussion, but diplomats from numerous countries have been telling the North Koreans to back off any plans for a missile test launch.

North Korea referred to its missile program for the first time Monday, but has not said it intends to perform the test.

A North Korean state television broadcast, monitored in Seoul, South Korea, cited a Russian editorial on the missile and said the North "has the due right to have a missile that can immediately halt the United States' reckless aerial espionage activity."

The North has repeatedly complained in recent weeks about alleged U.S. spy planes watching its activities.

A test would be the North's first significant missile launch since a 1998 test that send a missile over Japanese territory. Pyongyang began a self-imposed test moratorium in 1999, even while continuing separate development of a nuclear weapons program.

North Korea says it needed nuclear weapons and a such potential delivery systems as a missile to counter what it claims are U.S. intentions to invade or topple the government. The United States has repeatedly denied any plans to invade.



AP reporters Tom Raum, Robert Burns and Barry Schweid in Washington, Edith Lederer at the United Nations and Bert Herman in Seoul contributed to this report.

[American Patriot]

FOXNEWS.COM HOME > WORLD > ASIA
U.S.: North Korea Readies Missile for Test
Monday, June 19, 2006


TOKYO — North Korea referred to its missile program Monday in its official media for the first time since it apparently began preparations for a test launch, as a U.S. official confirmed the North has completed fueling a missile that is poised to fire.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leveled a warning that "it would be a very serious matter and indeed a provocative act" if North Korea tested a long-range ballistic missile.

Testing would abrogate several North Korean commitments and "it would be taken with utmost seriousness," Rice said at a news conference.

U.S. intelligence indicates that the long-range missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2, is fully fueled, a U.S. official said in Washington, requesting anonymity because the information comes from sensitive intelligence methods.

That reportedly gives the North a launch window of as much as a month for the missile, its most advanced model that experts say could reach parts of the U.S.

White House spokesman Tony Snow declined specific comment on reports that the fueling is complete.

"North Korea has imposed a moratorium on launching missiles," Snow said aboard Air Force One with U.S. President George W. Bush. "We hope it will continue that moratorium and we hope it also will abide by commitments it made" last year to abandon its nuclear weapons and renounce further development of them, he said.

(Story continues below)

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CountryWatch: North Korea

The U.S. has also talked directly with North Korean representatives in New York, where the country has a mission to the United Nations, Snow said.

He said Bush and other officials have talked on the telephone with more than a dozen heads of state about the indications of a coming launch.

"This is something that the president has been working vigorously," Snow said.

Meanwhile, the North mentioned its missile program on its evening TV news for the first time during the latest crisis, while not saying whether it intended a launch.

The report monitored from Seoul, citing a Russian commentary, said "the U.S. claim that North Korea has a missile that can hit the U.S. is unconfirmed speculation." The report added that the editorial said the North "has the due right to have a missile that can immediately halt the United States' reckless aerial espionage activity."

The North's media is controlled by the state and reflects the country's official position.

The North has repeatedly complained in recent weeks about alleged U.S. spy planes watching its activities. Some of the North Korean reports put the claimed espionage off the country's northeast coast and in the area where foreign officials say preparations for a long-range missile launch are continuing.

Fueling the missile would be a crucial step, some experts said.

"Once the injection of fuel is completed, it is dangerous unless the missile is launched within 24 hours at the longest," said Toshiyuki Shikata, an expert on military affairs and professor at Teikyo University in Tokyo. However, he said the North Koreans could be faking the fuel injection as a bluff.

But Japan's Mainichi newspaper reported Monday that after fueling is finished, the missile has a launch window of about one month, citing unidentified officials in Washington familiar with U.S. and North Korean matters.

There was no launch by Monday evening, and a nighttime test is considered highly unlikely.

Also Monday, the United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand cautioned the impoverished country that a missile test would bring serious consequences and further isolate the regime.

North Korea fired a missile over northern Japan in 1998, its last such test, and has abided by a self-imposed moratorium since 1999.

"Japan has been urging North Korea to stop the attempt to launch a missile," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said. "We are making efforts to urge North Korea to act rationally and with self-restraint."

"If it does not listen to us and fires a missile, we have to consult with the United States and take stern measures," he added. He refused to specify possible steps, but other officials have mentioned sanctions and an appeal to the U.N. Security Council.

The U.S. ambassador to Japan, Thomas Schieffer, also said sanctions were an option.

"I think sanctions would have to be considered, but I wouldn't want to describe what actions we might take," Schieffer said, according to the U.S. Embassy. He added that a launch would be "worthy" of Security Council discussion and action.

In Seoul, South Korea's ruling party called on Pyongyang not to put its "friend in danger" by testing the missile, as the opposition accused the government of not leaning hard enough on the North to stop the launch.

"It is time for (the North) to make a decisive move toward establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula through cooperation with South Korea," said ruling Uri Party Chairman Kim Geun-tae.

But the South Korean government sought to downplay concerns about a possible missile launch, with domestic media reports in early editions of Tuesday newspapers citing Seoul officials claiming the North may actually be seeking to launch a satellite.

The launch — whether it be of a satellite or a missile — hasn't entered its final countdown, the Hankook Ilbo newspaper said, citing government officials.

In 1998, when North Korea test-fired a Taepodong-1 ballistic missile over northern Japan, the North claimed it was a satellite launch.

The North claims it has nuclear weapons, but isn't believed to have a design that would be small and light enough to top a missile. Pyongyang has stayed away from international nuclear talks since last November, in anger over U.S. financial restrictions against a Macau bank and North Korean companies for alleged illicit activities.

[American Patriot]

Rice cautions North Korea against missile launch
Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:12am ET12

WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Monday a missile launch by North Korea would be a "very serious matter" and regarded as a provocative act.

Rice was asked about a possible long-range missile launch by North Korea at a joint news conference with Spain's foreign minister.

"From our point of view it would be a very serious matter indeed," she told reporters.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

[American Patriot]

North Korea Missile Test Would Be Provocative, Rice Says

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday that a North Korea ballistic missile test will be taken with "utmost seriousness" but did not specify how the United States would respond.

"It would be a very serious matter and, indeed, a provocative act should North Korea decide to launch that missile," Rice said at a press conference with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.

The ballistic missile launch would violate North Korean agreements signed in 1999 and reaffirmed in 2002.

Rice said she has been in contact with her counterparts in East Asia

"It is already taken with utmost seriousness by regional states and by the world because it would once again show North Korea determined to deepen its isolation, determined not to take a path that is a path of compromise and a path of peace, but rather instead to once again sabre-rattle," Rice said.

© 2006 DPA

[American Patriot]

US warns against North Korea test-launching missile
Unison.ie, Ireland - 4 hours ago

North Korea referred to its missile programme today in its official media for the first time since it apparently began preparations for a test launch. ...

[American Patriot]

3 Neighbors of North Korea Back U.S. Warning

By CHOE SANG-HUN, International Herald Tribune
Published: June 19, 2006

SEOUL, June 19 — Tensions over North Korea's missile program escalated sharply today as Japan, Australia and New Zealand joined Washington in warning the the communist state not test an intercontinental ballistic missile that experts say could reach parts of the United States.

The 115-foot Taepodong-2 missile stands ready to take off from Musudan-Ri, a remote village on the northeast coast of North Korea, after engineers apparently completed loading liquid fuel into its rocket boosters.

A successful test would provide the strongest indication yet that North Korea was developing the capacity to deliver chemical, biological or perhaps nuclear warheads to targets as far away as the continental United States.

Such a development would drastically increase international concerns over the regime's arsenal and its potential for working with terrorist groups.

"Even now, we hope that they will not do this," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan said today. "But if they ignore our views and launch a missile, then the Japanese government, consulting with the United States, would have to respond harshly."

J. Thomas Schieffer, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said in Tokyo that Washington would seek action by the United Nations Security Council if there was a missile test.

"I think sanctions would have to be considered, but I wouldn't want to describe what actions we might take," Mr. Schieffer said. "I think we would regard it as a very, very serious matter, worthy of discussion and worthy of action by the Security Council."

Australia, one of the few Western counties with diplomatic relations with North Korea, said it had summoned the North Korean ambassador in Canberra and warned against a test.

"North Korea would be gravely mistaken if it thinks that a missile test would improve its bargaining position in the six-party talks," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.

New Zealand's new envoy to North Korea will state her country's opposition to a test when she presents her credentials later this week in Pyongyang, said Foreign Minister Winston Peters.

In Seoul, South Korea's governing Uri Party urged North Korea to "not put its friend in danger" by testing a missile. The missile test could also thwart a planned trip by the former president, Kim Dae Jung, who wants to meet the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, in Pyongyang this summer.

South Korea also said today that tensions over missiles would not stop the two Koreas from opening economic talks Tuesday to discuss cooperation in an inter-Korean industrial complex in the North, a project South Korean officials have already said will continue.

Some analysts believe that North Korea will probably carry out a test to regain world attention that has been shifted to concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions, and to force the Bush administration to engage in direct negotiations with Pyongyang.

"If they have loaded the fuel, all they got left is a countdown," said Sohn Young Hwan, a former South Korean government missile expert who now works at Security Management Institute, a Seoul-based research agency affiliated with the National Assembly. "It means that they have pushed the situation to the very brink."

Mr. Sohn said he saw "a more than 90 percent chance" of North Korea testing the missile. Siphoning off the highly poisonous and corrosive liquid fuel from the missile to cancel a test is technically complicated, he said.

A successful test would make North Korean missiles more marketable to Iran and other clients in the Middle East.

[American Patriot]

Toru Yamanaka/Agence France-Presse-Getty Images

J. Thomas Schieffer, top left, the United States ambassador to Japan, spoke with Japan's foreign minister, Taro Aso, right, on Saturday in Tokyo. They discussed the possibility of a North Korean missile test.

By HELENE COOPER and MICHAEL R. GORDON
Published: June 19, 2006

WASHINGTON, June 18 — North Korea appears to have completed fueling a long-range ballistic missile, American officials said Sunday, a move that greatly increases the probability that it will go ahead with its first important test launching in eight years.

A senior American official said that intelligence from satellite photographs suggested that booster rockets had been loaded onto a launching pad, and liquid-fuel tanks fitted to a missile at a site on North Korea's remote east coast.

While there have been steady reports in recent days about preparations for a test, fueling is regarded as a critical step as well as a probable bellwether of North Korea's intentions. Siphoning the liquid fuel out of a missile is a complex undertaking.

"Yes, looks like all systems are 'go' and fueling appears to be done," said the official who discussed the matter only after being promised anonymity because he was addressing delicate diplomatic and intelligence issues. A second senior official, who declined to speak on the record for similar reasons, also indicated that the United States believed the missile had been fueled.

A launching would be a milestone in the North's missile capacity and effectively scrap a moratorium on such tests declared by the North Koreans after their last test in 1998. Moreover, a launching would have enormous importance for American security because it would be North Korea's first flight test of a new long-range missile that might eventually have the capacity to strike the United States.

A launching could also ignite a political chain reaction in Japan, the United States and China, which have been trying to re-engage North Korea in stalled talks about its nuclear weapons program. The Bush administration might step up financing for missile defense; Japan might increase its missile defense efforts as well, while militant Japanese politicians might push to reconsider the nation's nuclear weapons options. Such moves would most likely alienate China.

The reported fueling of the missile has set off a flurry of diplomatic activity, as officials from the United States, Japan and China worked furiously to try to forestall a launching. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to her Japanese and Chinese counterparts this weekend, urging the Chinese, in particular, to try to press North Korea. Officials at the State Department recently telephoned North Korean diplomats at that country's permanent mission to the United Nations in New York, warning them directly against going ahead with a launching. Such direct contact is highly unusual, since American officials limit their direct talks with their North Korean counterparts. But "we needed to make sure there was no misunderstanding," a senior American official said.

American intelligence officials say they believe that the system is a Taepodong 2 missile and that a three-stage version could strike all of the United States. One administration official said the missile at the launching pad was a two-stage version.

While North Korea claims to have developed nuclear weapons, it has never allowed outsiders to see them. American experts believe that North Korea has enough plutonium for at least half a dozen nuclear weapons and has produced a small but growing nuclear arsenal. It is not known if the North Koreans can build a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a missile, but experts say it seems plausible that they could do so.

"Assuming the missile is a Taepodong 2 and assuming the missile test is successful, North Korea would demonstrate that they have made important progress toward the ability to hit targets in the continental United States with a missile large enough to carry a nuclear weapon," said Gary Samore, a former senior aide on the National Security Council and a vice president of the MacArthur Foundation.

It remained unclear late on Sunday how long North Korea might wait before launching a fueled missile, what the diplomatic prospects were for averting a launching, or what the missile's intended landing spot or projected range might be.

In Japan, Foreign Minister Taro Aso warned that a miscalculation could result in the missile landing on Japanese territory. "If it is dropped on Japan, it will complicate the story," he told Japanese TV on Sunday. "It will be regarded as an attack." Mr. Aso later toned down his language, saying, "We will not right away view it as a military act," but adding that Japan would seek an immediate meeting of the Security Council if the missile were launched.

In its last test of a long-range missile, in 1998, North Korea fired a Taepodong 1 missile over Japan — a launching that the Clinton administration had warned against to no avail. American intelligence was surprised to learn when the missile was launched that it had three stages, although the solid-fueled third stage exploded in flight. That led Congress to step up its push for deployment of antimissile defenses. In 1999, North Korea agreed to a moratorium on long-range missile testing, and has not fired one since.

But five weeks ago American officials received satellite images that showed North Korea preparing to test a multiple-stage Taepodong 2 missile. Some Bush administration officials suspected that the moves were a grab for attention while Washington's focus was primarily on Iran's nuclear intentions, and a way to press the United States to agree to direct talks. But since then, diplomats have become increasingly concerned that North Korea indeed planned to conduct a launching.

[American Patriot]

Alright, enough news for the day.

My take on this. Within 72 hours, this missile will be launched, and it will either succeed or fail. If it fails, we will not know anything other than from satellite imagry and the public will not get details.

If it is a success, then DPRK will tout this success for the world to hear.

We will NOT interfere with the launch, I do not think. Because that will "start an international incident".

If we DO interfere, it will be well after the launch. The North Korean's will NOT hit the US on purpose, and will not launch in our direction because they know we WILL respond if something is seen as "incoming ordinance" towards us, and we have a chance to be hit.

Will they use a nuke? Word on the streets is, no, they have about 6 of them. if they use one, they will have zero in about 35 minutes after that.


'Nuff said.

[samizdat]

"I say we shoot the sucker down with an Aegis BMD cruiser like the USS Lake Erie (CG-70) in a real-time, real-world test of our own capabilities."

Wow- friar tuck- sounds like a fine idea!

"Nuff said"

Maybe Kim just wants his buddy to reach out and touch... President Bush briefly discussed the missile test with Russian President

Vladimir Putin during an 18-minute phone call the Russian official placed to the American president on Monday.
Thanks for the lowdown.

Illegitimus non carborundum: don't let ....Oh look it up.
http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxillegi.html

[Sean Osborne]

The genuinely lunatic North Korean's have 'fessed up. They probably are truly daft enought to think they can shoot down a reconnaissance satellite with a Taepo-Dong 2.

Forget lift-off. Laser the damn thing into oblivion while it sits on the launch pad.


N. Korea mentions missile program for first time since crisis flares

SEOUL, June 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korea mentioned its missile program Monday
night for the first time since a flurry of foreign media reports said the
communist country was preparing to fire a long-range missile capable of
hitting the United States.

"The (North) Koreans, if necessary, have the due rights to possess missiles
that can immediately obstruct the U.S. reckless aerial espionage
activities," the (North's) Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station said in
its evening news.

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20060620/430100000020060620153427E9.html

[Sean Osborne]

A medium-range separating target missile is seen seconds after lift-off from the Pacific Missile Range Facility .

N. Korean threat activates shield

By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 20, 2006


The Pentagon activated its new U.S. ground-based interceptor missile defense system, and officials announced yesterday that any long-range missile launch by North Korea would be considered a "provocative act."
Poor weather conditions above where the missile site was located by U.S. intelligence satellites indicates that an immediate launch is unlikely, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
However, intelligence officials said preparations have advanced to the point where a launch could take place within several days to a month.
Two Navy Aegis warships are patrolling near North Korea as part of the global missile defense and would be among the first sensors that would trigger the use of interceptors, the officials said yesterday.
The U.S. missile defense system includes 11 long-range interceptor missiles, including nine deployed at Fort Greeley, Alaska, and two at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The system was switched from test to operational mode within the past two weeks, the officials said.
One senior Bush administration official told The Washington Times that an option being considered would be to shoot down the Taepodong missile with responding interceptors.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice added that any launch would be a serious matter and "would be taken with utmost seriousness and indeed a provocative act."
White House spokesman Tony Snow declined to comment when asked if shooting down a launched missile was being considered as an option.
President Bush had telephoned more than a dozen heads of state regarding North Korea's launch preparations, Mr. Snow said. He did not identify the leaders who were called by Mr. Bush.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the U.S. has made it clear to North Korea that the communist regime should abide by the missile-test ban it imposed in 1999 and reaffirmed in a pact with Japan in 2002.
"The United States has a limited missile defense system," Mr. Whitman said. He declined to say if the system is operational or whether it would be used.
"U.S. Northern Command continues to monitor the situation, and we are prepared to defend the country in any way necessary," said spokesman Michael Kucharek.

Any decision to shoot down a missile would be made at the highest command levels, which includes the president, secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In Tokyo, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Japan and South Korea are trying to avert a launch.
"Even now, we hope that they will not do this," Mr. Koizumi said. "But if they ignore our views and launch a missile, then the Japanese government, consulting with the United States, would have to respond harshly."
John R. Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the Bush administration is consulting with other Security Council members on how to respond to a Taepodong launch.
In Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said North Korea's ambassador had been summoned and told any missile launch would result in "serious consequences."
U.S. intelligence officials said there are signs that the North Koreans recently began fueling the Taepodong with highly corrosive rocket fuel. Normally, when liquid fuel is loaded into missiles the missile must be fired within five to 10 days, or it must be de-fueled and the motors cleaned, a difficult and hazardous process.
The Taepodong was first tested in August 1998, and North Korea claimed that it was a space launch vehicle that orbited a satellite. U.S. intelligence officials said the last stage of the missile was powered but did not reach orbit. A new test would likely be a more advanced version.
"Our concerns about missile activity in North Korea are long-standing and well-documented," said Mr. Whitman, the Pentagon spokesman.
The test preparations began several weeks after the Bush administration imposed new rules on U.S. companies that prohibit American or foreign firms incorporated in the United States from flying North Korea's flag on merchant ships.
According to the Treasury Department, Korean War-era sanctions were loosened in 2000 in order to entice North Korea into abiding by the missile flight test ban.
One reason for the concerns about a launch is that North Korea has issued threatening statements through its official press and broadcast organs that it is ready to go to war with states such as Japan and the United States that impose economic sanctions.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.

[American Patriot]

North Korean Missile Raises Speculation
By Kurt Achin
Seoul
20 June 2006


Although concerns remain high that North Korea might soon fire a long-range missile, there are some doubts that a launch is imminent. The U.S. ambassador to South Korea warns that a missile launch would only further isolate the communist state.

South Korean lawmakers say they were told at an intelligence briefing that despite signs Pyongyang is preparing to launch a missile, it is not clear if it will do so.

The politicians say it is not certain North Korea has finished fueling the missile, meaning it could be some days before a launch. In addition, other South Korean experts said cloudy weather over the North recently could delay a launch.

The administration of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun briefed senior members of his Uri Party on the potential for a North Korean missile launch. Uri spokesman Woo Sang-ho says the administration and party members are of one mind on the prospective launch. He says everyone agrees the situation is very serious, and that North Korea should not launch a missile. A launch, he says, will do no good for anyone.

The United States, Japan, South Korea and other countries have warned North Korea that a launch would not be in its interests. They say Pyongyang should instead return to six-nation talks on ending its nuclear-weapons programs.

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow says a missile test would increase the North's isolation.

"We want to achieve a negotiated solution to the nuclear issue, and we want to establish a more normal relationship with North Korea through the six-party process," he said. "We hope that they do not carry out the test and that they seize the opportunity they have been failing to seize for many months now."

Vershbow says "the door is still open" for dialogue. He also said repeated earlier U.S. statements that a missile launch would require a U.S. response of some kind.

"This missile has a military capability, and we view it therefore as a serious matter," he said.

Vershbow met with former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, whose 2000 summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il brought a thaw in North-South relations. Though Kim Dae-jung is scheduled to make a return visit to North Korea next week, Vershbow says the status of that visit is not clear in light of the possible missile test.

Kim Dae-jung has called for North Korea to return to talks with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States aimed at implementing a nuclear disarmament pledge it made last September. He also urges the United States to end sanctions against the North and offer Pyongyang security guarantees.

North Korea last tested a long-range missile in 1998, when a Taepodong missile landed in the Pacific Ocean east of Japan. It then placed a moratorium on long-range missile launches, though it has tested shorter-range weapons. Many experts think Pyongyang is preparing to test another version of the Taepodong.

Pyongyang's official media is criticizing the United States for its development of a missile-defense system. North Korea said that system would lead to a war in space, and accused the U.S. of wanting to attain world supremacy. Pyongyang has often said it needs heavy armament, including nuclear weapons, to protect itself from a possible invasion by the United States.

[American Patriot]

N. Korea's missile ploy
Bush must take the threat seriously

The impasse over North Korea's nuclear arms threat has been simmering on the back burner of the Bush administration's foreign policy agenda far too long. Now North Korea has decided to raise the heat by preparing to test a long-range ballistic missile that's capable of reaching the U.S. mainland and could potentially carry a nuclear warhead.

It's time for President George W. Bush to start paying closer attention to North Korea and to formulate an urgent and appropriate response to persuade Pyongyang to abort the launch. Already, the Taepodong-2 missile is fully fueled, providing a launch window of about a month.

Pyongyang's latest gambit in the nuclear standoff is the most provocative in years, breaking North Korea's self-imposed missile-test moratorium of 1999. The prospect of an imminent North Korean missile launch is already unsettling the Pacific Rim nations that have worked with Washington to defuse Pyongyang's nuclear threat through negotiations.

Nothing has worked so far. And North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is reportedly furious at Washington's efforts to focus international attention on Iran's nuclear program while ignoring the existence of North Korea's claimed arsenal. He has a point, perhaps. But it's difficult to predict what mix of incentives and coercion could dissuade North Korea from playing such a dangerous game. Even the U.S. threat of new sanctions sounds hollow.

[American Patriot]

Rice Says North Korean Missile Test Would Be 'Provocative Act'

By HELENE COOPER and NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: June 20, 2006

WASHINGTON, June 19 — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned North Korea again on Monday to refrain from testing a long-range ballistic missile, even as reports indicated that the North had taken the penultimate step of fueling the missile.

Continuing diplomatic efforts that have gathered force around the world, Ms. Rice, who had been on the telephone over the weekend with her counterparts in Asia and Europe on the issue, said it would be a "provocative act should North Korea decide to launch that missile."

"We will obviously consult on next steps, but I can assure everyone that it would be taken with utmost seriousness," Ms. Rice said. "It would once again show North Korea determined to deepen its isolation, determined not to take a path that is a path of compromise and a path of peace, but rather instead to once again saber rattle."

Her comments came after Japan warned earlier in the day that it would take "stern actions" against North Korea if it proceeded with what would be its first important test launching since 1998, when North Korea fired a missile over northern Japan.

"I'm still hoping that North Korea won't do it," said Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at a news conference. "But if they launch a missile, Japan will consult with the United States and others and will have to take stern actions in response."

Mr. Koizumi did not specify what the actions would be, but other Japanese and American officials mentioned the possibility of economic sanctions.

Australia, which has diplomatic relations with North Korea, called on the North Korean ambassador to cancel any test and to return immediately to the six-nation talks over the North's nuclear program.

"North Korea would be gravely mistaken if it thinks that a missile test would improve its bargaining position in the six-party talks," the Australian foreign minister, Alexander Downer, said in a statement.

He said, "Such action would be highly provocative," adding that it would further isolate North Korea.

Agence France-Presse reported Monday that France, too, spoke out against North Korea's planned test.

"France expresses its deep worry at the preparations for a possible ballistic missile test by North Korea," a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jean-Baptiste Mattéi, told journalists.

North Korea has refused to return to the six-party talks unless the United States lifts a crackdown on North Korean businesses, and on financial institutions that do business with them.

The Korean Central News Agency, operated by the North Korean government, said the North's military had vowed to bolster the country's "military deterrent" against the United States. The agency accused the United States of being "hellbent on provocations for war of aggression" against North Korea.

North Korea is believed to be preparing the launching of the Taepodong 2, which, American intelligence officials have said, could reach all of the United States in a three-stage version. The missile at the launching pad was reported to be a two-stage version.

In the 1998 test, it fired a Taepodong 1, which flew over Japan before landing in the Pacific. North Korea agreed to a moratorium on long-range missile testing in 1999.

Helene Cooper reported from Washington for this article, and Norimitsu Onishi from Tokyo.

[American Patriot]

South Korea: North's missile on launching pad

Tuesday, June 20, 2006 Posted: 1249 GMT (2049 HKT)

South Korean war veterans protest a possible missile test by North Korea during a ceremony in Seoul Tuesday.

GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday it was unclear whether Pyongyang had put fuel in its long-range Taepodong-2 missile but it was apparently on a launching pad.

U.S. officials say evidence such as satellite pictures suggest North Korea may have finished fueling a ballistic missile for a test launch -- which Washington, Seoul and Tokyo have said would present a grave threat to regional security.

"It is not sure that they have put the fuel in the rockets, but it seems to be sure that they have assembled these missiles in the launching pad," Ban told reporters in Geneva.

According to Japan's Kyodo news agency, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday any long-range missile test will not be bound by the Pyongyang Declaration.

Under that 2002 agreement with Japan, North Korea pledged to uphold all international treaties on nuclear issues, extend a moratorium on ballistic missile launches and resolve issues related to the "lives and security" of Japanese nationals.

Meanwhile, China, the North's closest ally, said it had no details of any test-flight preparations and called for calm.

South Korea's weather agency forecast overcast skies and storms on Tuesday in North Hamgyong province, where North Korea has a launch site, and said this should be the pattern for the rest of the week as a storm front moves through.

Analysts say clouds and storms would make it difficult for North Korea to track a missile once in flight, decreasing the likelihood of a launch.

"You don't want to test launch a missile into a storm," said Peter Beck, a Korea analyst in Seoul for the International Crisis Group.

Reports of test preparations coincide with a stalemate in six-party talks on unwinding Pyongyang's nuclear arms programs.

Some analysts believe that North Korea is piqued world attention has shifted to concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions and angered at a U.S. crackdown that has frozen hard currency income from alleged illegal activities such as money laundering.

Beck said that by raising the prospect of a missile test, the Stalinist state had successfully grabbed global attention and rattled security concerns, but he was not sure if Pyongyang would scrap the launch in the face of pressure or go ahead.

"If they are really playing a finesse game they will back away but ... they are not known for their finesse game," he said.

Alexander Vershbow, U.S. ambassador to Seoul, said Tuesday any work on a potential delivery system, such as a missile, for a nuclear weapon creates a serious security threat.

Proliferation experts have said it is not likely North Korea has the technology to miniaturize a nuclear weapon so that it can be mounted on a missile.

North Korea shocked the world in 1998 when it fired a missile, part of which flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean. Pyongyang trumpeted that as a satellite launch.

"A missile launch is North Korea's second-biggest 'card' after a nuclear test, and they would have to seriously consider the timing," said Masao Okonogi, a Korea expert at Keio University in Tokyo.

"I think this is a bluff," he said.

[American Patriot]

Posted to the web on: 20 June 2006
North Korea faces missile protest

SEOUL — North Korea had apparently completed fuelling a long-range missile that neighbouring countries suspect is being prepared for a test launch, the Mainichi newspaper reported yesterday, as the US, Japan and France warned the reclusive state not to go ahead with the launch.

News of the completed fuelling of the Taepo Dong 2 came from unidentified officials in Washington familiar with US and North Korean matters, the nationally circulated newspaper reported last night.

After fuelling is completed, the missile has a launch window of about a month, which is practically irreversible, the report said.

North Korean state television also made its first mention of the missile yesterday.

The report referred to a Russian media report that dismissed US claims about North Korea’s missile capability.

The North Korean evening news broadcast, monitored in Seoul, said nothing about whether that country intended to test-launch a long-range missile. The New York Times said on Sunday that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had urged Beijing at the weekend to press Pyongyang to cancel plans to fire the intercontinental ballistic missile.

It also reported that state department officials had telephoned North Korean delegates at the United Nations in New York to warn against a launch.

The direct contact was unusual but one unnamed senior administration official told the paper that “we needed to make sure that there was no misunderstanding.”

Reports of the imminent test have drawn warnings from the US, Japan and South Korea, who are concerned that North Korea is pushing forward with its nuclear weapons programme amid talks to convince it to give up the weapons.

Japanese officials were quoted as saying on Sunday that a test was unlikely.

Pyongyang, which declared last year that it had nuclear weapons and which is boycotting US-backed talks on the crisis, shocked the world in 1998 by firing a missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean.

Japan’s top security officials met early yesterday and renewed warnings that Tokyo was ready to impose sanctions on the impoverished dictatorship if it carried out a test.

“If North Korea test-launches a missile, naturally Japan and the US will take stern measures,” said the government’s spokesman, chief cabinet secretary Shinzo Abe, implying possible economic sanctions.

Japanese officials were exchanging information “around the clock” on a possible launch of the Taepo Dong 2, which has a range of between 3500km and 6000km, said defence chief Fukushiro Nukaga in Tokyo.

North Korea has shunned six-nation disarmament talks since November, demanding that the US lift financial sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over alleged counterfeiting and money-laundering.

NOrth Korea has complained repeatedly in recent weeks about US spy planes watching its activities.

Late last week the US and Japan warned the country that the US would send surveillance aircraft after confirming reports about the proposed test firing.

France said yesterday that it was concerned about North Korea’s suspected plans and called on Pyongyang to respect a moratorium on launches.

“France expresses its deep worry at the preparations for a possible ballistic missile test by North Korea,” foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said in Paris.

Mattei said that North Korea should “abstain from any action that would go against the spirit” of last year’s declaration to pursue efforts to bring peace and stability to northeast Asia.

In a report on Sunday, North Korean state media said the country was seeking to boost its military deterrent.

That is an assertion the country has made in the past. Sapa-AP, Business Day Reporter