Let hope this baby works!!!!!!!
The U.S. Defense Department has said it could intercept a long-range North Korean missile with ground-based interceptor rockets before it reached the U.S. mainland.
Charles McQueary, director of operational test and evaluation at the Defense Department, told Bloomberg on Friday, "I believe we have a reasonable chance" of an intercept. "I’d put it 'likely' -- than 'highly likely' -- as opposed to putting it 'unlikely,'" he added.
"If North Korea launched a missile or two against us, we wouldn’t sit back... I wonder if we have enough test data in order to launch... We would launch," McQueary said.
The U.S. would likely launch multiple rockets at the incoming missile to improve the chance of an intercept, Bloomberg quoted him as saying.
The U.S. has deployed a Boeing-managed US$35.5 billion ground-based system of 28 interceptors in silos at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, Bloomberg reported.
Before North Korea test-launched a rocket in April, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. had no plans to try to shoot down the North Korean missile but might consider trying if an "aberrant missile" were headed to Hawaii "or something like that."
North Korea has transported its most advanced missile, believed to be capable of reaching Alaska, Hawaii to a site where it could be ready for launch in a week or two, news reports said today.
The reclusive communist country was also reportedly strengthening its defences and conducting amphibious assault exercises along its western shore, near disputed waters where deadly naval clashes with South Korea have occurred in the past.
With the launch, Pyongyang could also thumb its nose at U.N. Security Council attempts to rein it in after last week's nuclear test and a series of short-range missile launches.
South Korean media have speculated that the North wants to time the launch for around June 16, when South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has a summit in Washington with U.S. President Barack Obama.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the missile had been sent by train to the newly completed missile facility of Dongchang-ni, about 60 kilometres from the Chinese border.
Yonhap, quoting government sources, said the missile could be ready to launch in a week or two. South Korean defence and intelligence officials refused to comment.
U.S Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking at a news conference in the Philippines, said North Korea appears to be working on a long-range missile, but it's not clear yet what they plan to do with it.
Mr. Lee, hosting a conference of Southeast Asian leaders, warned the North against any provocation.
“If North Korea turns its back on dialogue and peace and dares to carry out military threats and provocations, the Republic of Korea will never tolerate that,” he said in his regular radio address.
Adding to tensions this week, the trial starts Thursday in Pyongyang of two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, accused of entering the country illegally and engaging in “hostile acts.”
North Korea faced strong international criticism after its last long-range missile launch, on April 5. The North said the launch was of a rocket intended to put a satellite in orbit. That modified version of the Taepodong-2 rocket flew about 3,200 kilometres, crossing over Japan before crashing into the Pacific Ocean.
The North later threatened to conduct nuclear and long-range missile tests unless the Security Council apologized for criticizing the launch. On Friday, it warned it would take a further “self-defense” measure if the Security Council provokes it.
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband today said his country and other members of the council were drafting tough sanctions to rebuke North Korea over its “wrong, misguided, dangerous” nuclear test.
Officials say financial sanctions, a toughened arms embargo and searches of ships carrying suspected nuclear cargo could be included.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the progress of the Security Council response during a telephone conversation Sunday, Russia's Foreign Ministry said today.
The North's missile and nuclear programs have been considered a top regional security concern, though the regime is not yet believed to have mastered the technology to make a nuclear warhead small enough to mount on a missile.
In another sign that a new launch is in the works, the North has designated a large area off its west coast as a “no-sail” zone through the end of next month, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said, citing unidentified intelligence officials.
Yonhap said North Korean troops conducted amphibious assault manoeuvres along its west coast.
Experts said the North's preparations were especially significant because it has never launched a long-range missile from the northwestern base.
Kim Tae-woo, vice president of Seoul's state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said he thinks the North chose the site because of its proximity to China, making it more risky for the U.S. to strike.
The missile being prepared for launch is believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of up to 6,500 kilometres, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an unnamed South Korean official. That would put Alaska within striking range.
The North again said it is being provoked by South Korea and the United States, saying the number of spy planes operating in its airspace has risen dramatically.
“The U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets perpetrated at least 200 cases of aerial espionage against the DPRK in May, or 30 cases more than those in the same month of last year,” it said in a report in its official Korean Central News Agency.
The DPRK is an abbreviation of North Korea's official name.
Gates Issues Warning to North Korea
Is the Obama administration taking North Korea’s threat to launch a long-range missile seriously enough?
With North Korea poised to launch as early as this weekend, you would think we would have deployed our SBX radar.
SINGAPORE — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned North Korea on Saturday that the United States would not accept it as a nuclear weapons state, as Asian security officials struggled to find a new way to deal with the isolated Communist nation.
“We will not stand idly by as North Korea builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in Asia — or on us,” Mr. Gates told a major defense conference here that has been dominated by North Korea’s test this week of a nuclear device and the firing of at least six short-range missiles, all in defiance of international sanctions.
Mr. Gates said that he did not consider North Korea’s nuclear program “a direct military threat” to the United States, but added that its progress “is a harbinger of a dark future.” One of the chief concerns among United States officials is that North Korea will sell its nuclear technology.
Although Mr. Gates said that the administration was planning to discuss with its Asian allies how to move forward with the six-party talks aimed at persuading the North to give up its nuclear weapons program, he acknowledged during a question and answer session that “it would be hard to point to them at this point as an example of success.”
In Washington on Saturday, a senior American official confirmed South Korean news reports of indications that the North was preparing to ship an inter-continental ballistic missile toward a missile testing site on the Sea of Japan, a sign that Pyongyang might be planning another long-range missile test. It would likely take several weeks for the missile to reach the site and be put in place, and there is still no evidence that the North Koreans have the technology to create a nuclear device small enough to fit atop a missile.
The North Koreans have conducted two such tests before, including one over Japanese territory, and American officials are particularly concerned about Japanese reaction to another test. Such missiles are theoretically capable of reaching Alaska and Hawaii.
A C.I.A. assessment has concluded that North Korea has built one or two nuclear weapons and harvested the fuel for six or more weapons.
Throughout the day at the annual conference in Singapore, called the Shangri-La Dialogue, Mr. Gates met with defense officials from China, South Korea, Japan and other Asian nations to try to begin pulling together an international consensus on how to proceed. James B. Steinberg, the deputy Secretary of State, attended a number of the meetings, as did Dennis C. Blair, the director of national intelligence.
There was talk of toughening economic sanctions on North Korea and a widespread view that long-running six-nation talks aimed at getting North Korea to give up its nuclear program had failed. Beyond that, nothing specific emerged.
“There’s no prescription yet on what to do,” said a senior American defense official who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The official said that one “prudent option” was “what should we be thinking about in the event that we need to start enhancing our posture, our defenses?” But the official said that it was premature to talk of building up American forces in the region — an echo of comments from Mr. Gates on Friday that the United States had no plans to reinforce some 28,000 American troops based in South Korea.
Late in the day, Mr. Gates had a three-way meeting focused on North Korea with the defense ministers of South Korea and Japan, a precursor to more detailed discussions to occur next week in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing about North Korea’s nuclear test. Mr. Steinberg is to lead the American team at those meetings; the group will include Stuart Levey, the Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, an indication that tough economic measures against North Korea will be a significant part of the discussions.
Military officials traveling with Mr. Gates said the tough talk was aimed in large part at increasing worldwide pressure on North Korea as well as reassuring allies in the region, particularly Japan and South Korea, that the United States was committed to their defense should North Korea make good on its talk of war this week. On Wednesday, North Korea threatened military strikes against the South.
Mr. Gates met early on Saturday with the highest-ranking official sent to the conference by China, Lt. Gen. Ma Xiaotian, the deputy chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army. American Defense officials said after the meeting that China, the country that has the most influence over North Korea, clearly viewed the nuclear test seriously, a reflection of General Ma’s public remarks at the conference.
“We are resolutely opposed to nuclear proliferation,” General Ma said, adding that “we hope that all parties concerned will remain cool-headed and take measured measures to address the problem.”
The United States has been pressing the Chinese government for a tough response, but it remains unclear if China is willing to engage in a heightened showdown with North Korea. In the past, China has feared the collapse of North Korea’s government could lead to refugees pouring across its border.
In Moscow, the Kremlin issued a statement saying President Dmitri A. Medvedev and Prime Minister Taro Aso of Japan had agreed on the need for a serious response to the nuclear test, Reuters reported.
In Mr. Gates’ formal remarks at the conference, his first as an emissary of President Obama, he made clear that the new administration had limited patience with North Korea’s bellicose words and behavior.
“President Obama has offered an open hand to tyrannies that unclench their fists,” Mr. Gates said. “He is hopeful, but he is not naïve. Likewise, the United States and our allies are open to dialogue, but we will not bend to pressure or provocation.”
Military officials acknowledged that the United States had only limited information about what was really happening inside North Korea and suspected that its leader, Kim Jong-il, was in the midst of political maneuvers to make his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, his successor. The officials described the country’s leadership as unpredictable and bizarre.
Although North Korea was the “hot topic” at the conference, as Mr. Gates put it, the defense secretary also used the forum to appeal to Asian allies for help, both financial and military, with the war in Afghanistan.
“I know some in Asia have concluded that Afghanistan does not represent a strategic threat for their countries, owing in part to Afghanistan’s geographic location,” Mr. Gates said. “But the threat from failed or failing states is international in scope.”
The defense secretary said that extremists in Asia who have engaged in terrorism in Bali and guerrilla warfare in the Philippines “are inspired by, and at times have received support directly from, groups operating along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border — the ungoverned space from which this threat ultimately emanates.”
Failure in Afghanistan, Mr. Gates said, “would have international reverberations — and, undoubtedly, many of them would be felt in this part of the world.”
In representing Mr. Obama, Mr. Gates sought to draw a distinction between the new president and his predecessor. Mr. Gates noted that Mr. Obama had spent part of his childhood in Indonesia and that it was the first time “that we have had a president with such a personal connection to the region.”
Mr. Gates concluded that the United States, “in our efforts to protect our own freedom, and that of others” had “from time to time made mistakes, including at times being arrogant in dealing with others.” Mr. Gates did not name names, but then said, “We always correct our course.”
David E. Sanger contributed reporting from Washington. 
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