North Korea May Have Missile That Can Reach Hawaii, U.S. Says

North Korea May Have Missile That Can Reach Hawaii, U.S. Says
By Shinhye Kang
March 28 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea, which is preparing to launch what it calls a “peaceful” satellite, may have developed a missile with the range to reach Hawaii, said Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“In some cases, yes, they could probably get down to Hawaii,” Mullen said on CNN’s Situation Room program yesterday, when asked if North Korea has the ability to strike Hawaii or Alaska. The West Coast of the U.S. mainland is still out of the nation’s range, he said.
North Korea said earlier this month that it plans to orbit a satellite between April 4 and 8, a move South Korea suspects is a disguised ballistic missile test. Kim Jong Il may hope to gain the attention of U.S. President Barack Obama, even at the cost of harsher international sanctions, says Jeung Young Tae, a senior researcher at Korea Institute for National Unification.
“North Korea is suffering from poor economic conditions and wants direct talks with Washington to speed much-needed aid,” Jeung said today by phone in Seoul. “Kim wants to make sure his country isn’t ignored as the Obama administration deals with economic problems and Iraq.”
The U.S., China, Japan, South Korea and Russia are pressing North Korea to cancel the launch and re-focus on negotiations aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program.
Successful or not, a missile launch might force Washington to accept North Korea as a potential threat, leading eventually to direct talks even if it first prompts a toughening of international sanctions, Jeung said.
Japan Alarmed
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada yesterday ordered his forces to shoot down any North Korean missile or falling debris that enters its “airspace, waters or soil.”
After a North Korean Taepodong 1 missile overflew Japan in 1998, Japan honed a defense network that includes anti-missile batteries around Tokyo and destroyers at sea capable of intercepting ballistic missiles.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on March 25 in Mexico City the U.S. will raise the issue at the United Nations if North Korea fires a missile. South Korea’s Defense Ministry also said such a launch would be a “provocation.” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs reiterated on March 26 that such a launch would be “provocative.”
North Korea agreed in February 2007 to scrap nuclear weapons development in return for energy aid and normalized ties with the U.S. and Japan. The six-nation disarmament talks remain stalled as the communist country refuses to let inspectors remove samples from its main Yongbyon nuclear reactor.
Tensions between North Korea and South Korea, technically still at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended without a peace agreement, have increased since South Korean President Lee Myung Bak took office in February last year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shinhye Kang in Seoul at skang24@bloomberg.net