South Korea, Japan warn North Korea on missile

Japan yesterday said it could shoot down any threatening object falling towards its territory, after North Korea said a planned rocket launch would send it across Japanese territory.

North Korea has given notice to global agencies that it plans to launch a satellite between April 4 and 8, presenting a challenge to new US President Barack Obama and allies who see it as a disguised missile test.

"Under our law, we can intercept any object if it is falling towards Japan, including any attacks on Japan, for our safety," Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told a news conference.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement any such launch would be in violation of Security Council Resolution 1718.

North Korea told agencies, including the International Maritime Organisation, the launch would take place over Japan in daylight hours and that the boosters would fall into the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean, the IMO said.

North Korea has said it is sending a communication satellite into orbit, and has the right to do so under its space programme.

The US, South Korea and Japan have said they see no difference between a satellite launch and a missile test because they use the same rocket, the North's long-range missile called the Taepodong-2 with a range that could take it to Alaska.

The only time the North tested the Taepodong-2 in 2006, it blew apart a few seconds after being fired. Analysts said the North appears to have made technological advances to fix flight problems and is confident of a successful launch. The UN sanctions imposed after the 2006 test forbid further ballistic missile testing.

The notice itself, unprecedented for the reclusive communist state which previously launched ballistic missiles without warning, also indicates it is seriously troubled that the United States or Japan might try to shoot it down, said Baek Seung-joo, an analyst at the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses. The North has said it would consider that to be an act of war.

Analysts do not expect the US will intercept the rocket because the North Korean launch poses no severe or immediate security threats while a strike could greatly ratchet up tensions and increase risk to the region's major economies.

A 1998 launch of an earlier version of the Taepodong flew over Japan and dropped in the Pacific, which the North called a successful launch of its satellite Kwangmyongsong-1.

Japan Airlines Corp. said that because of the launch warning, the airline would alter flight paths between April 4 and 8 on routes to London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Rome, Milan and Moscow, as well as Honolulu and Kona in Hawaii. All Nippon Airways Co. said that during the same period it would be altering flight paths on routes between Tokyo and London, Paris, Frankfurt.

North Korea yesterday again stopped crossings of South Korean personnel into a jointly run factory park on its side of the armed border, four days after cutting off military communication and temporarily suspending border crossings for a day, the Unification Ministry in Seoul said.

More than 200 South Koreans who are at the Kaesong industrial park remain stranded at the plant just north of the border, once hailed as a model in reconciliation.

Factbox

Specifications
The Taepodong-2 is a two- or three-stage missile with a designed range of 6,700 km, which means it could hit Alaska. It has a possible warhead payload of 650 kg to 1,000 kg in its short range configuration. One study has said that, with a reduced payload, the missile could travel 10,000 km, which would theoretically put the western US mainland within range. Research reports say a two-stage Taepodong-2 is about 35 metres long and has a diameter of 2.2 metres.

Purpose
North Korea says the launch, expected from April 4 to 8, is intended to put a satellite into space under its peaceful scientific programme. The US and South Korean governments believe it is a disguised test launch of the Taepodong-2, part of the North's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programme. Missiles and their technology are also a lucrative source of income for the impoverished state, and research reports say Iran has shown interest in buying the Taepodong-2.

Technical problems
The Taepodong-2 has suffered from design problems brought on by merging a Chinese design with the design of its medium-range Rodong ballistic missiles. This has led to structural flight problems that also decreased the missile's intended range.

The Taepodong-2 has never flown successfully. A test launch in 2006 failed when the missile fizzled and destructed about 40 seconds into flight because of what is generally believed to be a structural failure in its airframe, propulsion system or fuel tank.

The name and the base
The North rejects the name Taepodong, which was the area of the missile launch base located on the shore of the country's northeastern province that borders China and Russia.The North has used the names Rodong, also the name of its mid-range missile with a range of 1,000 km to 1,400 km, Hwasong (Mars) and more recently Unha (galaxy).

South Korea
South Korea, with financial and technological resources far superior to the impoverished North, is bound under the Missile Technology Control Regime to developing ballistic missiles with ranges of 300 km or less. The backbone of its missile arsenal is the 300-km ballistic missile named Hyun-mu. It has successfully developed a cruise missile that is known to strike a target at 1,000 km.