Japan threat to shoot down N. Korean satellite

[gpcortes07]

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Japan to decide on missile response on Friday

The Japanese government is to decide at a security meeting on Friday to order the Self-Defense Forces to intercept a missile fired by North Korea, if it is likely to hit Japan.

North Korea is poised to test-fire a long-range ballistic missile between April 4th and 8th, under the pretext of a satellite launch.

The missile is likely to fly over northern Japan. But if the launch fails, it could fall onto Japanese territory in about 10 minutes.

Below is the link from NHK WORLD
NHK WORLD English

[gpcortes07]

Self-Defense Forces gets intercept order
North's launch plan prompts move to deploy missile shield
By ALEX MARTIN

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada ordered the Self-Defense Forces on Friday to shoot down any part of a North Korean rocket that might fall toward Japanese territory.

The order is partly aimed at reducing public fears over what Japan, the United States and South Korea see as a test of Pyongyang's Taepodong-2 long-range ballistic missile, although the hermit state claims it is planning to send a satellite into space aboard a rocket.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-b...0090328a1.html

[zapantalambda]

communism is wat fuels n.korea.
ppl there are psycho freaks.
they are a threat to the world.
the UN should do sumthin about this.

[GOSPELofROCH]

mag apil2x nsad ang US ani

[Jerry Michael]

communism is wat fuels n.korea.
ppl there are psycho freaks.
they are a threat to the world.
the UN should do sumthin about this.

Have U met some of them B4? Were U close enough to them to draw a very negative conclusion to their personalities? Or, Is that what U were just being told by Western media? Specifically, AmeriKKKan media? Which is which?

[neoraising]

mag apil2x nsad ang US ani

all the US needs to pull the trigger is a pretext and if this issue turns out for the worst,that might just be it..

[wak_wak]

apil jud ang US ani, kay if successful ang sa North Korea, pasabot ana threat na sa ila security, kay ang missile na etest sa nokor kay ang Taepodong-2 long-range ballistic missile would theoretically put the western U.S. mainland within range.

[unsay_ngalan_nimo]

ok ra na ako apil ang USA.. kita gyud ko katong sa discovery channel or nat geo ba to na inside north korea.. sus oi.. mura man dili na maghunahuna mga taw didto kay tuo lang gyud ng tuo unsa i-sulti sa gobyerno sa ilaha...

naa man website ang north korea...
The Official Webpage of The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)

kani sad ako sad gibasa!
6 Reasons North Korea is the Funniest Evil Dictatorship Ever | Cracked.com

[gerard]

kuyawa sad ani mau ning mahimung hinung sa gubot nasad deri sa asia. hinaut unta kra ilang test..

[gpcortes07]

NKorea launches rocket, defying world pressure

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative rocket launch Sunday that the U.S., Japan and other nations suspect was a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology.

Liftoff took place at 11:30 a.m. (0230GMT) Sunday from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean and U.S. governments said. The multistage rocket hurtled toward the Pacific, reaching Japanese airspace within seven minutes, but no debris appeared to hit its territory, officials in Tokyo said.

The U.N. Security Council approved an emergency session for Sunday afternoon in New York, following a request from Japan that came minutes after the launch.

The South Koreans called it "reckless," the Americans "provocative," and Japan said it strongly protested the launch.

The launch was a bold act of defiance against President Barack Obama, Japanese leader Taro Aso, Hu Jintao of China and others who pressed Pyongyang in the days leading up to liftoff to call off a launch they said would threaten peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

South Korea's presidential Blue House said the launch poses a "serious threat" to stability on the Korean peninsula and that it would respond to the provocation "sternly and resolutely." President Lee Myung-bak ordered the military to remain on alert, the Blue House said.

"We cannot contain our disappointment and regret over North Korea's reckless act," presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan told reporters Sunday. He said the launch of the long-range rocket "poses a serious threat to security on the Korean peninsula and the world."

North Korea claims its aim is to send an experimental communications satellite into orbit in a peaceful bid to develop its space program.

The U.S., South Korea, Japan and others suspect the launch is a guise for testing the regime's long-range missile technology — one step toward eventually mounting a nuclear weapon on a missile capable of reaching Alaska and beyond.

They contend the launch violates a 2006 resolution barring the regime from ballistic missile activity.

Obama said Friday the launch would be a "provocative" move with consequences. State Department spokesman Fred Lash said late Saturday in Washington that the U.S. will "take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it cannot threaten the safety and security of other countries with impunity."

He called the launch a clear violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718, adopted five days after North Korea carried out a nuclear weapons test in 2006.

Japan's U.N. mission has asked for a meeting of the 15-nation council Sunday, spokesman Yutaka Arima said. Mexico's mission to the United Nations set the meeting for 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT), spokesman Marco Morales said. Mexico holds the 15-nation council's presidency this month.

U.N. diplomats already have begun discussing ways to affirm existing sanctions on North Korea against its nuclear program and long-range missile tests.

In Japan, chief Cabinet spokesman Takeo Kawamura said it was not immediately clear if the rocket was mounted with a satellite as North Korea has claimed.

North Korea calls its "space launch vehicle" Unha-2, but the rocket is better known to the outside world as the Taepodong-2, a long-range missile that can be mounted with a satellite or nuclear armament.

"Even if a satellite was launched, we see this as a ballistic missile test and we think this matter should be taken to the United Nations Security Council," Kawamura said. "We are highly concerned by this matter."

"We strongly protest this launch," he said.

The first stage of the rocket dropped about 175 miles (280 kilometers) off the western coast of Akita into the waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula. The second stage was to land in the Pacific at a spot about 790 miles (1,270 kilometers) off Japan's northeastern coast, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said in Tokyo.

Japan said it would convene a security panel meeting later in the day to discuss what further measures can be taken. Kawamura said Japan would work closely with Washington and with the U.N.

"Our primary concern is to confirm safety and gather information," Aso told a news conference at his Tokyo office Sunday.

North Korea shocked Japan in 1998 when it launched a missile over Japan's main island. Japan has since spent billions of dollars on developing a missile shield with the United States and has launched a series of spy satellites primarily to watch developments in North Korea.

Japan had threatened to shoot down any debris from the rocket if the launch went wrong, and positioned batteries of interceptor missiles on its coast and radar-equipped ships off its northern seas to monitor the launch.

No attempt at interception was made since no debris fell onto its territory, a ministry spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.