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

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details and background at bottom)
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," Gen. Walter Sharp 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 guise for test-firing a
ballistic missile capable of reaching the continental U.S., saying the rocket can
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 would be in violation of a
U.N. resolution.
The resolution, adopted in 2006 after North Korea's second Taepodong 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 Taepodong 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,
referring to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea. "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."
Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, meanwhile, told the
hearing that the U.S. has "the capability to do so" if a decision is made to
shoot down a rocket approaching from North Korea.
"We are watching Taepodong carefully," he said. "We're getting reasonable
intelligence as to the activities around Taepodong, and we will be prepared to
respond."
On North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's health, Sharp said that Kim is in firm
control, although his health failure last year apparently prompted talks of his
heir apparent within the North Korean leadership.
"I can't underestimate, Kim Jong-il is in charge. Every major decision is coming
directly from him, I believe, and he's trying to shore up that ability right
now," Sharp said. "I think the illness not only for Kim Jong-il himself but
within the leadership of North Korea, they are looking much more, okay, what is
going to be the future?"
Kim's third son, Jong-un, 26, is said to have recently been tapped as heir
apparent with strong backing from the leader's brother-in-law Jang Song-thaek and
close followers of the elder Kim in the military.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last month that the North's
provocations in recent weeks might be related to uncertainties in the North over
a possible transition of power from Kim Jong-il who ascended to power in 1994,
soon after the sudden death of his father Kim Il-sung, the founding father of the
communist North.