[FPSPACE] More on NK TP-2 preparations; one has been spotted on a transport train; launch within 60 days (or less)

[Peter Pesavento]

Two stories.  First, the original new story, and the US reaction

 

Question:  What does the word  "Paektusan" mean?

 

>From the Yonhap news agency, South Korea

 

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2009/02/03/29/0301000000AEN20090203
003300315F.HTML

 

2009/02/03 11:56 KST

 

(3rd LD) N. Korea moving to test-fire long-range missile: Seoul officials 

   By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Yonhap) -- In what appears to be its latest message to U.S.
President Barack Obama, North Korea is preparing to test-fire its
longest-range missile designed to deliver a nuclear warhead, South Korean
officials and analysts said Tuesday.

   A defense source in Seoul said U.S. and South Korean intelligence
officials have recently spotted a North Korean train carrying what is
believed to be a Taepodong-2 missile. The source added there will likely be
a launch in a month or two.

   Taepodong-2 missiles are capable of traveling up to 6,000 kilometers,
meaning they can reach as far as Alaska and the west coast of the U.S.,
according to weapons experts.

   North Korea test-fired a Taepodong-2 missile in 2006 -- the same year it
tested a nuclear bomb -- but the missile failed after 40 seconds of flight,
according to intelligence assessments.

   "This new missile is likely to be an upgraded one," said Koh Yu-hwan, a
North Korea studies professor at Dongguk University in Seoul. "We could even
call it a Taepodong-3 missile."

   A Taepodong-2 missile can carry a payload of up to 500 kilograms. The
North declared last month through a prominent U.S. scholar it has
"weaponized" 30.8 kg of plutonium, enough to create several atomic bombs.

   The report on the missile transportation came after Japanese media quoted
an intelligence official as saying a launch is imminent.

   "The intelligence report by Japan appears grounded on facts," an official
at the South Korean Ministry of National Defense said, speaking on condition
of anonymity. Other defense officials said senior military commanders have
begun discussing Seoul's response.

   Sharply raising regional tension, North Korea said last week it is
abandoning all peace accords signed to ease tension on its heavily armed
border with South Korea.

   Ties between the two sides have unraveled quickly over the past year
since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office with a pledge to set
North Korea's denuclearization effort as a precondition to reconciliation.

   The countries remain technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended
in a truce rather than a peace treaty. The North has repeatedly warned this
year of violence along a western sea border where bloody naval clashes
erupted in 1999 and 2002.

   "Pyongyang seems jittery," said Ryoo Kihl-jae, an expert at the
University of North Korea Studies, adding Pyongyang is angling for quicker
dialogue with Washington amid frayed ties with Seoul.

   Ryoo said North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who turns 67 this month and is
rumored to have suffered a stroke last summer, appears to be pressing Obama
to formulate his North Korea policy with urgency.

   Obama, who took office in mid-January, has stressed the usefulness of
direct dialogue with Pyongyang while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
has pledged a mix of bilateral and multilateral negotiations to end
Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs.

   "It's a matter of timing," said Kim Yeon-chul, a North Korea expert at
Seoul's Korea University.

   "North Korea is saying it can't wait until the U.S. decides on its new
stance," he said, adding he does not believe a missile launch will help its
negotiation leverage.

   A South Korean spy agency official, who would only speak on condition of
anonymity, said he is unsure whether the North would actually carry through
with the launch.

   "We can't determine yet whether this is an act of show designed to draw
attention from the U.S. or if North Korea actually intends to pull off the
launch," the official said.

   The intelligence report of an imminent missile launch came after a U.S.
expert told Yonhap News Agency that the North nearly completed the
construction of a new rocket-launch facility.

   "I understand North Korea could launch a rocket from the facility as
early as this spring if the Paektusan-2, more commonly known as the
Taepodong-2, is ready for testing," Daniel Pinkston, senior analyst at the
Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said on Jan. 29.

   North Korea launched a Taepodong-1 over Japan in 1998, sending shock
around the region. The six-nation nuclear talks, which include the two
Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, are stalled over Pyongyang's
refusal to accept a U.S. proposal on methods of verification.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

US says launching would not be helpful

 

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.5462250a30747f03350e1ee540485670
.611
<http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.5462250a30747f03350e1ee54048567
0.611&show_article=1> &show_article=1

 

>From Agency France Presse:

 

NKorean missile launch would be 'provocative': US


Feb 3 02:07 PM US/Eastern


 


 

The United States said Tuesday that any test firing of a long-range missile
by North Korea would be seen as a "provocative" act. 

"First of all, we don't comment on intelligence matters," said State
Department spokesman Robert Wood. 

"But North Korea's missile activities and, you know, missile programs are a
concern to the region. There's no secret there. And a ballistic missile
launch by North Korea would be unhelpful and, frankly, provocative." 

Earlier a US counter-proliferation official said there were signs North
Korea was preparing to test fire its longest-range missile, the Taepodong-2.


"But whether it will carry out the launch or not is entirely unclear, as is
the timing for a possible launch," said the official, who spoke to AFP on
condition of anonymity. 

 

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