USA Gets Ready for Possible North Korean Missile Launch: Gates

 
Source: almanar.com.lb, 19-6-2009
The US military has moved additional defenses to Hawaii in case North Korea launches a missile towards the Pacific island chain, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday.

The decision to deploy missile defense weaponry to the remote US state came as the US military tracked a flagged North Korean ship that might be carrying nuclear or missile-related cargo in violation of new UN sanctions. It was the first vessel to be monitored under the UN sanctions imposed on Pyongyang last week after the North Korean government carried out an underground nuclear test on May 25. Gates said Washington was watching North Korea for missile activity and that there were concerns Pyongyang might "launch a missile... in the direction of Hawaii." He said he had approved the deployment of THAAD missile defense weaponry to Hawaii and a radar system nearby "to provide support" in case of a possible North Korean launch. And he said that ground-based defenses in Alaska were also at the ready.

USA and South Korean officials have said North Korea might be preparing another ballistic missile test after three previous launches in 1998, 2006 and this year. Pyongyang said its latest April 5 launch put a satellite into orbit, while the United States and its allies labeled it a disguised test of a Taepodong-2 missile theoretically capable of reaching Alaska. But North Korea has yet to demonstrate it has the ability to build a nuclear warhead that could be fitted onto the tip of one of its ballistic missiles.

The Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun meanwhile reported that Tokyo's defense ministry believes North Korea might now be planning to launch a two-stage or three-stage Taepodong-2 missile towards either Japan's Okinawa Island, Guam or Hawaii.

Worth mentioning, The United Nations resolution calls on member states to inspect ships if there are "reasonable grounds" that a vessel may be carrying illicit cargo. If a country refuses to order an inspection, or if a government licensing the ship refuses, both states would risk penalties from the Security Council.