N. Korea deploying missiles capable of hitting Alaska: Gen. Sharp

By Hwang Doo-hyong

WASHINGTON, March 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has been deploying new
intermediate-range ballistic missiles capable of hitting Alaska, the commander of the U.S. Forces in Korea said Thursday.

"North Korea is now fielding a new intermediate-range ballistic missile capable
of striking Okinawa, Guam and Alaska, and continues to develop and mature systems
with an intercontinental range capability," General Walter Sharp, commander of
the United States Forces in Korea, said in a Senate Armed Services Committee
hearing.
Sharp's remarks come amid escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula, as North
Korea announced it will launch a rocket in early April to put a satellite into
orbit.
The U.S. and its allies see the rocket launch as a disguise for test-firing a
ballistic missile capable of reaching the continental U.S., saying the rocket
will also be used for a missile launch.
Washington and Tokyo have been threatening to intercept the rocket, with
Pyongyang issuing warnings that any interception will lead to war.
It is not clear at the moment whether China and Russia will join any effort by
the U.S. and its allies to further sanction North Korea for its rocket launch, as
interpretations differ over whether the rocket launch is in violation of a U.N.
resolution.
The resolution, adopted in 2006 after North Korea's second Daepodong ballistic
missile launch, bans North Korea from engaging in any ballistic missile
activities.
"North Korea continues to build missiles of increasing range, lethality and
accuracy, thereby bolstering its inventory of missiles available for internal use
or external sale, while maintaining several hundred missiles in active force,"
said the general who doubles as the commander of the Combined Forces of South
Korea and the U.S.
North Korea is said to be a major provider of missiles and missile parts to
Syria, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries.
In the aborted missile talks in the late 1990s under the Bill Clinton
administration, North Korea demanded that the U.S. provide up to US$1 billion
annually in return for the North refraining from exporting its missile and parts.
The missile talks followed North Korea's launch of its first Daepodong ballistic
missile over Japan in 1998, which shocked the Clinton administration when the
rocket's debris fell into seas off Alaska.
The missile talks did not produce results, as Clinton withdrew his promise to
visit Pyongyang to conclude the missile and nuclear talks with North Korea in the
waning months of his presidency in 2000, citing a lack of time.
Clinton's successor, George W. Bush, did not honor any agreements with North
Korea, which he designated as part of an "axis of evil," along with Iraq and
Iran.
"The DPRK's missile export program, with established links to Syria and Iran,
among others, along with its quest to develop improved ballistic missile
technology, poses a threat to Northeast Asia and the world at large," Sharp said.
"It is a threat that we cannot afford to overlook."
The commander said North Korea "views its ballistic missile programs as a source
of prestige, a strategic deterrent, a means of exerting regional influence and a
source of hard currency."