U.S. Ready to Respond to N.Korea Missile; May Shoot Missle Down With Obama's OK

[tekisui]

Source: ABC News

In an exclusive interview with ABC News' Martha Raddatz, Adm. Timothy Keating, head of the U.S. Pacific Commands, said that the military is prepared to shoot down any North Korean ballistic missile -- if President Obama should give the order.

"If a missile leaves the launch pad we'll be prepared to respond upon direction of the president," Keating told ABC News. "I'm not a betting man but I'd go like 60/40, 70/30 that it will, they will attempt to launch a satellite. There's equipment moving up there that would indicate the preliminary stages of preparation for a launch. So I'd say it's more than less likely."

"Should it look like it's not a satellite launch -- that it's something other than a satellite launch -- we'll be ready to respond."

Intelligence reports suggest that North Korea is preparing a long-range missile test. Earlier this week, North Korea announced its plans to send a satellite into orbit as part of its space program.

However, many in the international community assert that North Korea's satellite test is simply a means of concealing a long-range missile test -- a move that would flare existing tension in the region.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=6965611&page=1

[pampango]

1. I wondered why North Korea was at pains to call this a satellite test rather than a missile test

which they have not tried to hide in the past. They have usually trumpeted their missile and nuclear tests.

"North Korea's announcement comes amid warnings from the United States not to test the missile. A U.N. resolution, passed after North Korea exploded a nuclear device in 2006, bans the country from any ballistic missile activity."

I had not realized that the UN passed such a resolution. China and Russia must have gone along with it for it to get through the Security Council.

"If North Korea launched another missile in the direction of Japan, it would enter airspace that is protected by Aegis antiballistic missiles, which are deployed on Japanese and U.S. Navy destroyers in the Sea of Japan and designed to intercept incoming missiles in mid-flight. As a secondary layer of defense, Tokyo is also protected by a Patriot missile system."

You would think that you could tell a satellite launch (unless it was a really bad one) from a missile test. A missile will travel a certain distance and end up hitting land or water. A satellite has to get up pretty high and stay there. If the trajectory shows it is headed for Japan, even if it is accidental, you would have to shoot it down, if you can. I'm sure that Chinese and Russian radars, as well as Japanese will pick it up, so it will be hard to fake a trajectory.

""Kim Jong Il will absolutely lose face if his missile is destroyed," said Satoshi Morimoto, a professor at Takushoku University in Tokyo and a former director of security policy at Japan's Foreign Ministry. "We are afraid that the North Koreans may overreact and that there may be another launch, perhaps on South Korea.""

"Daniel A. Pinkston, an expert on North Korean missiles who works for the International Crisis Group, said Kim's government has much to gain and little to lose from launching a satellite as the payload atop its long-range missile, especially if it gets shot down by an American-made weapon. "I see this as a no-brainer for the North Koreans," Pinkston said. "All the indications are that they are likely to go forward with this. I don't think people see how serious the implications are. They are all bad for the United States."

Kim knows that what he has going for him is nuclear weapons and missiles. When in doubt, test one or the other. Welcome, to Kim's world President Obama.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/24/AR2009022400324.html?hpid=sec-world

[Phoonzang]

2. Do it.

Of course if we fire and miss, that will be a bit of an embarrassment.