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http://nytimes.com/2012/10/10/world/asia/north-korea-says-its-missiles-can-reach-us-mainland.html
SEOUL, South Korea North Korea
claimed Tuesday to have missiles that can
reach the American mainland, and it said
that the recent agreement between the
United States and South Korea to extend
the range of the Souths ballistic missiles
was increasing the risk of war on the
Korean Peninsula.
North Korea has often threatened to
strike the heart of the United States, and
a popular propaganda poster there shows
a North Korean missile hitting what looks
unmistakably like Capitol Hill. But the
warning issued Tuesday was more
detailed.
The North Koreans do not hide that
their armed forces, including the
strategic rocket forces, are keeping within
the scope of strike not only the bases of
the puppet forces and the U.S. imperialist
aggression forces bases in the inviolable
land of Korea but also Japan, Guam and
the U.S. mainland, a spokesman at the
Norths National Defense Commission said
in a statement. North Korea often refers
to the South Korean military as puppet
forces, a reference to the Souths alliance
with the United States.
The Norths strategic rocket forces are
believed to be in charge of the countrys
missiles. The Norths leader, Kim Jong-un ,
visited the units headquarters in
Marchand mentioned it by name during
his first public speech in April.
Estimating the missile capabilities of a
country as secretive as North Korea is
notoriously difficult. But military experts
and South Korean government officials
have said that the North has already
deployed ballistic missiles capable of
reaching targets as far away as Guam, the
American territory in the Pacific.
In addition, North Korea has repeatedly
conducted what it calls satellite
launchings that American and South
Korean officials, as well as the United
Nations Security Council, have condemned
as a cover for developing and testing
intercontinental ballistic missile
technology.
In 1998, the North sent up a rocket called
the Taepodong-1 that flew over Japan and
crashed into the Pacific. In 2006, the
Taepodong-2 exploded seconds after
liftoff. The North launched yet another
long-range rocket, the Unha-2, in 2009,
but American and South Korean officials
said the third stage never separated.
In April of this year, the Unha-3 rocket
disintegrated in midair shortly after
liftoff, a failure that the new government
in Pyongyang publicly acknowledged.
But the North claimed to have
successfully placed satellites into orbit in
1998 and 2009. The country has also
conducted two nuclear tests, the first in
2006 and the second in 2009, although it
remains unclear whether it can make a
nuclear warhead small enough to fit atop
a missile. Robert M. Gates said in early
2011, while he was the American defense
secretary, that North Korea was within
five years of being able to strike the
continental United States with an
intercontinental ballistic missile.
Even if they failed to put the satellites
into orbit, these rocket tests mean that
the North Koreans may have already
acquired the missile range they claimed
on Tuesday, said Jeung Young-tae, a
military analyst at the government-run
Korea Institute for National Unification in
Seoul.
In Washington, a State Department
spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said,
Rather than bragging about its missile
capability, North Korea ought to be
feeding its people.
Mr. Jeung said the Norths strident
statement on Tuesday was driven in part
by a domestic political need to highlight
the supposed threat from the United
States and its allies. On Sunday, South
Korea announced a deal with Washington
that would allow it to nearly triple the
range of its ballistic missiles to 800
kilometers, or 500 miles, to better cope
with the Norths growing missile and
nuclear capabilities.
On Tuesday, North Korea called the
agreement a product of another
conspiracy of the master and the stooge to
push the situation on the Korean
Peninsula to the extreme pitch of tension
and ignite a war.
We should not forget even a moment
that wolf never subsists on grass as long
as it breathes, it said, adding that the
missile agreement disproved the United
States insistence that it had no intention
to invade the North.
SEOUL, South Korea North Korea
claimed Tuesday to have missiles that can
reach the American mainland, and it said
that the recent agreement between the
United States and South Korea to extend
the range of the Souths ballistic missiles
was increasing the risk of war on the
Korean Peninsula.
North Korea has often threatened to
strike the heart of the United States, and
a popular propaganda poster there shows
a North Korean missile hitting what looks
unmistakably like Capitol Hill. But the
warning issued Tuesday was more
detailed.
The North Koreans do not hide that
their armed forces, including the
strategic rocket forces, are keeping within
the scope of strike not only the bases of
the puppet forces and the U.S. imperialist
aggression forces bases in the inviolable
land of Korea but also Japan, Guam and
the U.S. mainland, a spokesman at the
Norths National Defense Commission said
in a statement. North Korea often refers
to the South Korean military as puppet
forces, a reference to the Souths alliance
with the United States.
The Norths strategic rocket forces are
believed to be in charge of the countrys
missiles. The Norths leader, Kim Jong-un ,
visited the units headquarters in
Marchand mentioned it by name during
his first public speech in April.
Estimating the missile capabilities of a
country as secretive as North Korea is
notoriously difficult. But military experts
and South Korean government officials
have said that the North has already
deployed ballistic missiles capable of
reaching targets as far away as Guam, the
American territory in the Pacific.
In addition, North Korea has repeatedly
conducted what it calls satellite
launchings that American and South
Korean officials, as well as the United
Nations Security Council, have condemned
as a cover for developing and testing
intercontinental ballistic missile
technology.
In 1998, the North sent up a rocket called
the Taepodong-1 that flew over Japan and
crashed into the Pacific. In 2006, the
Taepodong-2 exploded seconds after
liftoff. The North launched yet another
long-range rocket, the Unha-2, in 2009,
but American and South Korean officials
said the third stage never separated.
In April of this year, the Unha-3 rocket
disintegrated in midair shortly after
liftoff, a failure that the new government
in Pyongyang publicly acknowledged.
But the North claimed to have
successfully placed satellites into orbit in
1998 and 2009. The country has also
conducted two nuclear tests, the first in
2006 and the second in 2009, although it
remains unclear whether it can make a
nuclear warhead small enough to fit atop
a missile. Robert M. Gates said in early
2011, while he was the American defense
secretary, that North Korea was within
five years of being able to strike the
continental United States with an
intercontinental ballistic missile.
Even if they failed to put the satellites
into orbit, these rocket tests mean that
the North Koreans may have already
acquired the missile range they claimed
on Tuesday, said Jeung Young-tae, a
military analyst at the government-run
Korea Institute for National Unification in
Seoul.
In Washington, a State Department
spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said,
Rather than bragging about its missile
capability, North Korea ought to be
feeding its people.
Mr. Jeung said the Norths strident
statement on Tuesday was driven in part
by a domestic political need to highlight
the supposed threat from the United
States and its allies. On Sunday, South
Korea announced a deal with Washington
that would allow it to nearly triple the
range of its ballistic missiles to 800
kilometers, or 500 miles, to better cope
with the Norths growing missile and
nuclear capabilities.
On Tuesday, North Korea called the
agreement a product of another
conspiracy of the master and the stooge to
push the situation on the Korean
Peninsula to the extreme pitch of tension
and ignite a war.
We should not forget even a moment
that wolf never subsists on grass as long
as it breathes, it said, adding that the
missile agreement disproved the United
States insistence that it had no intention
to invade the North.
