U.S. activates missile defense system

[David]

SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) -- The United States has moved its ground-based interceptor missile defense system from test mode to operational amid concerns over an expected North Korean missile launch, a U.S. defense official said Tuesday.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday that North Korea had put its long-range Taepodong-2 missile on a launching pad, but it was unclear if the missile was fully fueled.

Meanwhile, Pyongyang said it would not be bound by a 2002 treaty prohibiting launches of ballistic missiles.

"They seem to be moving forward towards a launch, but the intelligence is not conclusive at this point," White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters traveling with President Bush to Austria aboard Air Force One.

The U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed a Washington Times report that the Pentagon has activated its missile defense system, which has been in the developmental stage for years.

"It's good to be ready," the official said.

U.S. officials say evidence such as satellite pictures suggests Pyongyang may have finished fueling the Taepodong-2 missile, which some experts said could reach as far as Alaska.

"There's real caution in how to characterize it so as to not be provocative in our own approach," the defense official said of the move to activate the system.

Asked whether the United States would try to shoot down a North Korean missile, Pentagon press secretary Eric Ruff declined to answer directly.

"We have a limited missile defense system," Ruff said. "We don't discuss the alert status or the specific capabilities."

The Pentagon and U.S. State Department have said a North Korean missile launch would be seen as "provocative."

The United States has built up a complex of interceptor missiles, advanced radar stations and data relays designed to detect and shoot down an enemy missile, but tests of the system have had mixed results.

The system is based on the concept of using one missile to shoot down another before it can reach its target.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Ban called on Pyongyang to scrap test plans while saying the missile was on the pad.

"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, Switzerland.

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.

[SuperScout]

Chances are that our snoop agencies have been the source of what is now being reported as 'activating' our missle defense system, and that the activation signal was given weeks ago. The potential launch by the NKPA has a plethora of ramifications for both sides. If the launch goes well, the ante at the bargaining table gets raised by several kilotons. If if goes well, and then gets shot down as it nears US terroitory or threatens a US ally, the ante at the table is withdrawn by the US, and the US missle system gets another round of funding.

If, on the other hand, the missle either explodes on the launch pad or shortly after liftoff, due to some (ahem!) perfectly directed high-energy beam, the NKPA will start licking the egg foo young off each others' faces, right before being frog-marched to the execution field.

[Jerry D]

Missiles if I remember correctly have NO civil aviation protection rules so any Missile traveling in International waters or Other then the launching country are shoot-able targets. So anyone with a Patriot Missile Battery is Ok'd to shoot it down! So it should be open season on this up coming NKPA missile once it leaves their airspace and enters open sea

[Robert Ryan]

Poof missel your gone. Poof North Korea your an orange spot on the face of the earth uninhabitable for the next 100 years.

[Boats]

I hope this one is better than the one they had in Israel. I'd knock them all down if it works. NK I wouldn't give them (I have to be kind and not use those words) NOTHING!

[locksly]

US Tests Missile Defense Amid North Korea Tension
By Al Pessin
Pentagon
21 June 2006


The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is conducting a test in the Pacific Wednesday, but an official says the event was long-planned and is not related to tension over a possible North Korean missile launch. Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has rejected a North Korean suggestion for direct talks on the issue. And there is an unconfirmed media report that U.S. navy ships are moving into position to monitor any North Korean missile launch, and possibly direct weapons to shoot it down.

Officials say the missile defense test off the coast of Hawaii has been scheduled for a long time and is not related to the tension with North Korea. Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rick Lehner says the exercise will not even test the type of interceptor that would be used if North Korea ever launched a missile at the United States.

"The one to be tested today is a sea-based version that is designed against short to possibly intermediate range ballistic missiles," he said. "Any type of long-range ballistic missile attack directed at the U.S. in the future would be dealt with by the long-range interceptors based in California and Alaska."

According to a statement by the Missile Defense Agency, this will be the first test of an improved version of its interceptor missile, which it says is scheduled for operational deployment aboard U.S. navy ships later this year.

The Washington Post newspaper reported Wednesday that U.S. navy ships with special radar capability have been moved into position near North Korea to monitor any missile launch, and potentially to direct interceptor missiles to shoot it down. But officials will not comment on the specific capabilities or alert status of the missile defense system, which is still in its development and testing phase.

Meanwhile, the number two diplomat at North Korea's mission to the United Nations has suggested direct talks to address U.S. concerns about a possible missile launch. But on Wednesday U.S. ambassador John Bolton rejected that suggestion.

"I must say you don't normally engage in conversations by threatening to launch inter-continental ballistic missiles," said Mr. Bolton. "And it's not a way to produce a conversation, because if you acquiesce in aberrant behavior you simply encourage the repetition of it, which we're obviously not going to do. So, main point remains that North Korea should not launch."

North Korea has long sought direct talks with the United States, but U.S. officials say any dialogue must be in the context of six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program.

Ambassador Bolton says if North Korea launches a missile there would "absolutely" be a response stronger than a press release, and that there is broad support for such a response. But he would not say what that might be, saying consultations are continuing and the priority is to prevent the launch.

Reports from satellite imagery in recent days have indicated preparations for a North Korean launch of a long-range ballistic missile that some analysts believe could reach U.S. territory.

The U.S. missile defense system is designed to respond to such a threat, but the system has had many problems and is not yet fully operational. Officials say it is a difficult technological challenge to detect, track and destroy a small missile traveling through space at a high rate of speed, and to do so within just a few minutes. But some tests have been successful, and news reports say the system could get a "real world" test if North Korea goes ahead with its launch.


http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/...0621-voa01.htm