Spy satellites have spotted signs that North Korea may be preparing to transport another long-range missile to a test launch site, South Korean officials said yesterday, as the US secretary of defense issued his harshest warning to the North since its recent nuclear test.
“We will not stand idly by as North Korea builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in Asia — or on us,” US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told a regional defense meeting in Singapore.
He said North Korea’s nuclear program was a “harbinger of a dark future,” but wasn’t yet a direct threat.
Since last Monday’s nuclear blast, North Korea has test-launched six short-range missiles in a show of force and announced it won’t honor the 1953 truce that ended the fighting in the Korean War.
Now, the reclusive communist state appears to be preparing to move a long-range missile by train from a weapons factory near Pyongyang to its northeastern Musudan-ni launch pad, a South Korean defense ministry official said.
Images of the movements were captured by US satellites, said the official, who was not allowed to be identified when discussing intelligence matters.
The threat of a long-range missile test comes amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s nuclear program.
North Korea, believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for at least six nuclear bombs, walked away from international disarmament negotiations last month in anger over UN criticism of a rocket launch Washington and others called a cover for the test of long-range missile technology.
Experts say Pyongyang is working toward mounting a nuclear bomb on a long-range missile, one capable of reaching the US.
Gates and the defense ministers of Japan and South Korea said North Korea must not be allowed to continue playing a dangerous game of brinksmanship in hopes of winning aid.
“We must make North Korea clearly recognize that it will not be rewarded for its wrong behaviors,” South Korea Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee said.
Officials in Washington said they noticed increased activity at the test site. They spoke on condition of anonymity on Friday, saying methods of gathering information about North Korea were sensitive.
Yonhap said the size of the missile was similar to a long-range rocket the North tested last month.
Experts have said the new three-stage rocket has a potential range of more than 6,700km, putting Alaska within its striking distance.
The North is likely to fire the missile shortly after the UN Security Council adopts a resolution criticizing its recent nuclear test, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies.
The resolution is expected to call on all countries to immediately enforce sanctions imposed by an earlier UN resolution after Pyongyang’s first nuclear test in 2006.
The sanctions include a partial arms embargo, a ban on luxury goods and ship searches for illegal weapons or material. They have been sporadically implemented, with many of the 192 UN member states ignoring them.
The draft would also have the Security Council condemn “in the strongest terms” the recent nuclear test “in flagrant violation and disregard” of the 2006 resolution.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat