Missiles can strike US, warns N. Korea
Source: Agencies |
October 10, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
NORTH Korea yesterday warned that the United States mainland is within range of its missiles, and said Washington's recent agreement to let Seoul possess missiles capable of hitting all of North Korea shows the allies are plotting to invade the country.
Seoul announced on Sunday it reached a deal with Washington that would allow it to nearly triple the range of its missiles to better cope with North Korean missile and nuclear threats.
Yesterday, North Korea called the deal a "product of another conspiracy of the master and the stooge" to "ignite a war" against North Korea.
In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, an unidentified spokesman at the powerful National Defense Commission said North Korea will bolster its military preparedness.
"We do not hide ... the strategic rocket forces are keeping within the scope of strike not only the bases of the puppet forces and the US imperialist aggression forces' bases in the inviolable land of Korea but also Japan, Guam and the US mainland," the spokesman said.
Alaska within reach
North Korean long-range rockets are believed to have a range of up to about 6,700 kilometers, putting parts of Alaska within reach, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry.
But North Korea's spotty record in test launches raises doubts about whether it is truly capable of an attack.
Pyongyang shocked Japan in 1998 when it sent a rocket over Japan's main island and into the Pacific. That also alarmed Washington because about 50,000 US troops are deployed in Japan and their bases could be within North Korea's range. Tokyo and Washington have since intensified their ballistic missile defenses.
But North Korea's most recent rocket launch in April ended in failure shortly after liftoff. North Korea said it was trying to launch a satellite with that launch, but the US and other countries said it was actually a test of long-range missile technology.
The failure suggests that Pyongyang has yet to master the technology it needs to control multistage rockets - a key capability if it is to threaten the US with intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Seoul announced on Sunday it reached a deal with Washington that would allow it to nearly triple the range of its missiles to better cope with North Korean missile and nuclear threats.
Yesterday, North Korea called the deal a "product of another conspiracy of the master and the stooge" to "ignite a war" against North Korea.
In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, an unidentified spokesman at the powerful National Defense Commission said North Korea will bolster its military preparedness.
"We do not hide ... the strategic rocket forces are keeping within the scope of strike not only the bases of the puppet forces and the US imperialist aggression forces' bases in the inviolable land of Korea but also Japan, Guam and the US mainland," the spokesman said.
Alaska within reach
North Korean long-range rockets are believed to have a range of up to about 6,700 kilometers, putting parts of Alaska within reach, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry.
But North Korea's spotty record in test launches raises doubts about whether it is truly capable of an attack.
Pyongyang shocked Japan in 1998 when it sent a rocket over Japan's main island and into the Pacific. That also alarmed Washington because about 50,000 US troops are deployed in Japan and their bases could be within North Korea's range. Tokyo and Washington have since intensified their ballistic missile defenses.
But North Korea's most recent rocket launch in April ended in failure shortly after liftoff. North Korea said it was trying to launch a satellite with that launch, but the US and other countries said it was actually a test of long-range missile technology.
The failure suggests that Pyongyang has yet to master the technology it needs to control multistage rockets - a key capability if it is to threaten the US with intercontinental ballistic missiles.
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