Report: North Korea test-fires Nuke missiles
Pastor Dale Morgan
Report: North Korea test-fires Nuke missiles*
POSTED: 1317 GMT (2117 HKT), May 25, 2007
Story Highlights
• Reports say North Korea fired several short-range guided missiles in
test launch
• South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed the launches
• Broadcaster NHK said missiles fired on east and west coast of Korean
Peninsula
• Analysts say launches in response to South's new Aegis destroyer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea fired several short-range guided
missiles Friday into the sea that separates it from Japan in an apparent
test launch, South Korean officials and media reports said.
Analysts and media reports said the North's test was in response to
South Korea's launch of its first destroyer equipped with high-tech
Aegis radar technology on Friday. South Korea is now one of only five
countries armed with the technology, which will make it easier to track
and shoot down North Korean aircraft and missiles.
"This shows North Korea, whose navy is rather small, is extremely
alarmed," said Toshimitsu Shigemura, an expert on North Korean issues at
Japan's Waseda University.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed Friday's missile launches.
"The short-range missile launches are believed to be part of a routine
exercise that North Korea has conducted annually on the east and the
west coasts in the past," the statement said.
The missiles were fired from the communist country's east coast into the
sea between Japan and the Korean peninsula, a Joint Chiefs official said
on condition of anonymity, citing official protocol.
Japan's public broadcaster and other media, citing Japanese and U.S.
sources, reported the missiles were surface-to-ship. Japan's Defense
Ministry and Foreign Ministry could not immediately confirm the reports.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited an unidentified Unification
Ministry official as saying the tests would not strain ties because they
were apparently part of regular exercises. North and South Korea are
planning Cabinet level talks on reconciliation efforts next week in Seoul.
In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the tests "extremely
regrettable" but said, "We do not consider (the missile firing) as a
serious threat to Japan's national security."
Public broadcaster NHK said the missiles were shorter-range, and were
not North Korea's existing Rodong or Taepodong I ballistic missiles.
Kyodo News agency said the missiles were launched from Hamgyong Namdo on
the east coast of the Korean Peninsula and are considered modified
silkworm or miniaturized Scuds, with a range of 60 to 125 miles.
Mobile missile carriers, communication equipment and personnel were seen
in the area before the launch, but they left after the missiles were
fired, Kyodo said.
Last month, North Korea displayed during a military parade a newly
developed ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. territory of
Guam, the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported, citing an
unidentified South Korean government official familiar with an analysis
of U.S. satellite images.
North Korea's missile program has been a constant concern to the region,
along with its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
The hard-line regime test-fired a series of missiles in July last year,
including its latest long-range model, known abroad as the Taepodong-2,
which experts believe could reach parts of the United States.
The North rattled the world again in October by conducting its
first-ever test of a nuclear device. However, experts believe it does
not have a bomb design advanced enough to be placed on a missile.