Global Security Newswire

The United States has heightened monitoring of North Korea amid indications that Pyongyang is planning another launch of its Taepodong 2 long-range missile, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 27).

Adm. Michael Mullen said another test of the weapon, which failed in its last outing in July 2006, would be "provocative." He said that there is yet no recommendation on the U.S. response if North Korea proceeds with a launch, the Associated Press reported.

Washington and other capitals have responded skeptically to Pyongyang's claims that it is preparing to place a satellite into orbit (Associated Press/Star Tribune, March 1).

"Given the history of this issue, including North Korea’s past missile tests and its 2006 nuclear test, and the clear statement of the United Nations Security Council in two resolutions -- 1695 and 1718 -- that missile-related activities must cease, the United States believes that a further missile test by the D.P.R.K. would violate UNSC Resolution 1718, even if the D.P.R.K. seeks to characterize it as a satellite launch. Ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles used to launch satellites derive from nearly identical and interchangeable technologies," the U.S. State Department said Friday. "A satellite launch would also be inconsistent with Resolution 1695, in which the Security Council demanded that North Korea 'suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program'" (U.S. State Department release, Feb. 27).

Reports have indicated that the United States or Japan might try to shoot down a missile launched from North Korea.

Three successful intercept tests of U.S. missile defense capabilities have involved mock North Korean missiles, the head of the Missile Defense Agency said last week.

Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly responded confidently when asked during a hearing on Capitol Hill whether the existing missile shield could provide protection against North Korean threats, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

"Based on the scenarios that we've tested three times, although it's limited and it's in the beginning, those scenarios overlay a launch from North Korea and a response out of Alaska," O'Reilly said. "We have tested three times that scenario first, for obvious reasons. And that is the source of my confidence."

He added: "Our firing doctrine is that we have a significant number of missiles, so we can put a significant number of missiles in the air at once. And that each time significantly increases the overall probability that you are going to be successful" (Yonhap News Agency, Feb. 27).

North Korea's neighbors also warned it against a missile launch.

"If North Korea test-fires such missiles, even if North Korea insists that it is not a missile but a satellite launched by a rocket, it is the view of the Japanese government that (that) runs counter to the existing U.N. Security Council resolution," said Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said in a statement. "I would like to request North Korea to exercise self-restraint, not to escalate tension or anxiety in the region."

His spokesman Kasuo Kodama spoke to reporters yesterday after Nakasone met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Reuters reported. Tokyo believes that Beijing is still deciding how to respond should North Korea launch an object it claims to be a satellite-carrying rocket, the spokesman said (Rhee/Herskovitz, Reuters/International Herald Tribune, March 1).

Nakasone also discussed the missile threat in a telephone conversation today with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, the Korea Herald reported. They agreed that a missile or rocket launch would constitute a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718, which was imposed following the 2006 nuclear test (Kim Ju-hyun, Korea Herald, March 3).