[FPSPACE] US intelligence officials: NK rocket nose cone appears to confirm satellite launch planned

[Peter Pesavento]

>From the Telegraph (UK)

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/5093585/Barack-Oba
ma-warns-North-Korea-over-rocket-launch-as-Pyongyang-fuels-missile.html

 


Barack Obama warns North Korea over rocket launch as Pyongyang 'fuels
missile' 


North Korea can expect a "stern, unified action" from the international
community if it test-fires a ballistic missile, US President Barack Obama
has said.  


By Peter Foster in Beijing 
Last Updated: 5:14PM BST 02 Apr 2009

Mr Obama promised tough action at a meeting on the sidelines of the G20
summit as reports emerged that Pyongyang had begun fuelling the long-range
rocket for an impending launch. 

US military officials said that technicians have started to fuel up the
three-stage Taepodong-2 missile at Musudan-ri launch site in the country's
northeast in defiance of a 2006 UN resolution. 

Pyongyang has said that the missile-test is a satellite launch not covered
by the UN resolution and has informed international agencies that it will
fire the rocket as early as Saturday. 

US intelligence officials said that analysis of the rocket's nose-cone
appeared to confirm claims that it was a satellite launch, but added that
the launch was a cover for testing ballistic missile technology capable of
delivering a warhead as far as Alaska or Hawaii. 

Diplomatic tensions are building on the Korean peninsula, where relations
between North and South have sunk to their lowest levels in a decade. 

South Korea said it was now actively considering taking part in the US-led
Proliferation Security Initiative which could see it stopping ships
suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction or related materials. 

The North's Minju Joson newspaper responded that any such move would amount
to a "declaration of war". 

The rhetoric from Pyongyang has been similarly bellicose towards Japan,
which has deployed Patriot missile batteries to intercept the rocket, should
it begin falling towards Japanese territory. 

"If Japan recklessly 'intercepts' the DPRK's (North's) satellite for
peaceful purposes, the Korean People's Army will mercilessly deal deadly
blows not only at the already deployed intercepting means but at major
targets," said a statement from the KPA. 

The North, which has deployed a squadron of MiG-23 warplanes to protect the
launch site, according to a South Korean news agency, has also threatened to
shoot down any US spy planes that enter its airspace. 

Analysts have said that North Korea's desire to launch the missile is in
part fuelled by the need for a "propaganda triumph" for the state's ailing
leader Kim Jong-il, who is thought to have suffered a stroke last year. 

Nuclear disarmament talks between North Korea and Japan, China, South Korea,
Russia and the US - the so-called Six Party talks - have been stalled since
December. Pyongyang has threatened to pull out permanently if the missile is
intercepted. 

However, while Japan has threatened to deepen its bilateral sanctions
against Pyongyang, a US and South Korean call for sanctions could be vetoed
by China and Russia at the UN Security Council. 

 

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