N. Korea puts rocket on launch pad for possible launch within days: report

(ATTN: ADDS Pentagon spokesman's remarks in paras 8-12)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, March 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has put a rocket on a launch pad
along the East Sea apparently toward an imminent countdown, reports said
Wednesday.
"North Korea has positioned a Taepodong II missile on the launch pad at its
facility in Musudan in the east of the country," NBC News reported, citing
unnamed U.S. officials. "According to the U.S. officials, while two stages of the
missile can be seen, the top is covered with a shroud supported by a crane."
U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Gordon Duguid, however, said that he could
not confirm the report "because I do not have that information."
He also said that he "would not be able to share it with you, that sort of
information, anyway."
North Korea has said it will launch a rocket to orbit a communications satellite
April 4-8, insisting the launch is part of its space program, not a ballistic
missile test banned by U.N. resolution.
The U.S. and its allies have warned the North against a launch for any purpose,
threatening to impose further sanctions.
China and Russia, who greatly toned down the 2006 resolution, have been urging
all concerned parties to show restraint.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell, meanwhile, said, "We continue to monitor
the situation closely. We are very interested in it, following it very closely."
Morrell said that any launch of a missile or satellite is in violation of the
U.N. resolution and expressed confidence in the U.S. capability to shoot down any
rocket from the North.
Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, told a Senate Armed
Services Committee hearing last week that the U.S. has "the capability to do so"
if a decision is made to shoot down a rocket approaching from North Korea.
"Admiral Keating ... said that he had confidence that there would be high a
probability of success," Morrell said. "I have no reason to take issue with
anything he shared with the committee."
The Pentagon spokesman, however, would not elaborate on whether the U.S. will
actually try to intercept the North Korean rocket. "I'm not going to get into the
means by which we would do -- at this point."
Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of U.S. forces in Korea, told a House Armed Services
Committee hearing Tuesday that "North Korea's most recent provocative actions are
all an attempt to ensure the regime's survival and improve its bargaining
position at international negotiations to gain concessions."
Diplomatic efforts are under way to press the North not to fire the rocket, which
the U.S. sees as a cover for a ballistic missile test.
Chief nuclear negotiators of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are to get together
in Washington Friday to discuss the issue.
North Korea has threatened to retaliate and boycott the six-party talks if the
U.S. and its allies try to shoot down the booster.
The six-party talks were stalled in December as North Korea balked at a
verification protocol for its nuclear facilities.
Sharp also said that North Korea has been "fielding a new ballistic missile
capable of striking Alaska and continues to develop and mature systems with an
intercontinental range capability."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the U.S. would like to
initiate missile talks with North Korea.
State Department officials have said that Washington needs to discuss that matter
with other parties to the six-party talks before deciding on whether to
incorporate the missile talks into the nuclear talks.
Frank Jannuzi, professional staff member of the Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations, has proposed that Washington pay up to US$1 billion in compensation
for the North's suspension of exports, deployment and development of long range
missiles, referring to North Korea's demand made a decade earlier. North Korea is
said to be a major provider of missiles and missile parts to Syria, Iran and
other Middle Eastern countries.
Jannuzi's proposal was dismissed by State Department officials as "a private
opinion."
North Korea launched its first Taepodong ballistic missile over Japan in 1998.
The debris fell into seas off Alaska.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)