North Korea Feeling "Oh So Lonely?"

[Annie]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/03/08/nkorea.missiles/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

Report: North Korea fires missiles

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- North Korea launched a pair of short-range missiles Wednesday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Japan's Kyodo News Agency, which quoted "sources knowledgeable about the matter," said the surface-to-air missiles were launched near North Korea's border with China.

"Indications are that North Korea launched two short-range missiles," McClellan said. "The regime has conducted similar tests in the past."

According to Kyodo, there was some confusion over whether the missiles were test-fired or launched by mistake.

The agency quoted a Western military source as saying they were short-range missiles fired to the east from the eastern coast.

At least one of the missiles landed in the sea about 100 kilometers (62 miles) northeast of the launch site, Kyodo said, citing a Japanese defense official.

"We have consistently pointed out that North Korea's missile program is a concern that poses a threat to the region and the larger international community," McClellan said.

"We work closely with our allies in the region on ballistic missile defense and to maintain a strong deterrent against the threat North Korea poses.

"We believe the six-party talks remain the way to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions and deal with the threat from its missile program and activities," he said.

The U.S. last year blacklisted a Macau bank and North Korean companies it said were involved in counterfeiting, money laundering and weapons proliferation -- a move that prompted the North to boycott international arms talks.

But the North has also recently pursued diplomacy in seeking to resolve its nuclear standoff, sending a top diplomat to New York for a briefing Tuesday by U.S. officials on the country's alleged illicit financial activities, The Associated Press reports.

After the New York briefing, the North maintained it would not return to the negotiations, but still said it has proposed ways to resolve the issue. (Full story)

The North last test-fired a missile in May, also a short-range rocket, the significance of which was downplayed by regional governments and Washington.
Intermediate-range missile coming

In Washington on Tuesday, the commander of the U.S. military in South Korea, Army Gen. B.B. Bell, said reports indicated the North was "preparing to field a new intermediate-range ballistic missile which could easily reach United States facilities in Okinawa, Guam and possibly Alaska," according to prepared comments.

However, Bell noted there had been "very little activity" by the North Koreans in recent years on long-range ballistic missiles. Instead, he said officials have seen increasing work on short-range missiles that could be used on the Korean Peninsula, AP reports.

Besides producing a large number of weapons, Bell said North Korea also "appears willing to sell to anyone."

It is not known if the North has really built a functioning nuclear weapon as it claims, since the country is not believed to have performed any nuclear tests. Putting a device on a missile is even more complicated, and there's also no evidence the North has done that either.

Still, experts do believe the North has extracted enough plutonium from its main nuclear reactor for at least a half-dozen nuclear weapons or more -- underscoring a concern that has lately been getting less attention because of the intense diplomacy surrounding the Iranian nuclear crisis.

 

[USMCDevilDog]

Let's see, Iran, N. Korea, Iraq, Syria, possible China.....this is gonna be fun...hehehe :teeth:

 

[ThomasPaine]

Let's see, Iran, N. Korea, Iraq, Syria, possible China.....this is gonna be fun...hehehe :teeth:

Which is every reason to not elect a Democrat President until that party drastically reforms itself, or collapses, whichever comes first.