N. Korea about to launch rocket into space as it claimed: intel chief

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; ADDS Blair's remarks, other details throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, March 10 (Yonhap) -- The chief U.S. intelligence official said
Tuesday that he believes that North Korea is about to launch a rocket into space
as North Koreans insisted.
The remark by National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair is the first by any
U.S. official amid conflicting reports about the nature of the rocket Pyongyang
is threatening to launch.
U.S. officials have said that the North's claim to shoot a communications
satellite into space is a cover to test a ballistic missile capable of reaching
the mainland U.S.
"It is a space-launch vehicle that North Korea launches," Blair told a Senate
Armed Services Committee hearing. "The technology is indistinguishable from
intercontinental ballistic missile, and if a three-stage, space-launch vehicle
works, then that could reach not only Alaska, Hawaii, but also part of the, part
of what the Hawaiians call 'the Mainland,' and what the Alaskans call 'the Lower
48.'"
He said he "tended to believe that the North Koreans announced that they were
going to do a space launch, and I believe that that's what they intend. I could
be wrong, but that would be my estimate."
North Korea has recently said it will launch a communications satellite as part
of its space development program.
The U.S. and its allies have warned that any launch of a satellite or missile
will bring sanctions under a United Nations resolution banning any ballistic
missile activity, although China and Russia have not been clear on whether they
will join such a move.
Defense Intelligence Agency Director Michael Maples also told the hearing that
after a failed July 2006 test launch, "North Korea has continued development of
the Taepodong 2, which could be used for space launch or as an ICBM," noting that
North Korea "announced in late February they intend to launch a communications
satellite, Kwangmyongsong-2."
North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile in 2006 is widely believed to be a
failure due to its flight time of less than one minute, but its previous version
flew over Japan and fell into seas off Alaska in 1998.
North Korea insists the 1998 launch was to put a communications satellite into
orbit, which the State Department also described as a failed attempt to put a
satellite into orbit.
North Korea is believed to be preparing to launch an improved version of its
ballistic missile this time.
The North's military said last week that any interception of its rocket by the
U.S. or Japan may lead to war, and warned that the North's military will
retaliate by destroying the interceptors wherever they are. The U.S. Navy has
several ships capable of ballistic missile defense.
"The long-range artillery the North positioned near the demilitarized zone is
complemented by a substantial mobile ballistic missile force with an array of
warhead options to include weapons of mass destruction that can range U.S. forces
and our allies in the Republic of Korea and Japan," said Maples, an Army
three-star general.
Maples said that North Korea has been focusing on developing ballistic missiles
and nuclear weapons to compensate for its outdated conventional weapons, which
cannot match South Korea's modern arsenal.
"North Korea's large, forward-positioned, but poorly-equipped and poorly-trained
military is not well-suited to sustain major military operations against the
South," he said. "As a result of its limitations, North Korea is emphasizing
nuclear capabilities and ballistic missiles as a means to ensure its sovereignty
and to deter technology-superior opponents."
He said North Korea "could have stockpiled several nuclear weapons from plutonium
produced at Yongbyon and it likely sought a uranium enrichment capability for
nuclear weapons at least in the past."
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006 and is widely believed to
possess the world's biggest stocks of chemical and biological weapons.
Under the military-first policy sponsored by its leader, Kim Jong-il, North
Korea, meanwhile, has diverted food and other aid from the outside world to the
military, Maples said.
"North Korea will continue to divert economic and aid resources to higher
priority military projects in spite of critical public welfare needs," he said.
Transparency in food aid distribution is a key issue for the World Food Program
and other international donors amid rumors that a bulk of the food aid has been
funneled to the military and government's power elites instead of the
impoverished people.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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