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 Nth Korea 'test fires missile': report

NORTH Korea has test fired a missile, but not the one that drew protest from the United States and Japan, CNN has reported.

The US network, citing two sources, said North Korea had launched a missile and that it was not clear where the missile was headed.

The network said it was also not clear if the missile had a target.

CNN said the missile was smaller than the Taepodong 2 missile which the US and other nations feared North Korea had been on the verge of test firing.

Japans' Kyodo news agency reported two missiles had been test-fired.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said last Thursday that he and US President George W. Bush had agreed to impose unspecified "pressures" on North Korea if it launches a long-range missile.

The United States had been monitoring a potential launch of a Taepodong 2 missile and Mr Bush criticised North Korea last Thursday - during a meeting with Mr Koizumi - that Pyongyang had failed to inform the world of its missile intentions.

Japan is particularly sensitive to such moves by North Korea, which in 1998 fired a Taepodong-1 missile over Japan into the Pacific, prompting Tokyo and Washington to step up co-operation to build missile defences.


_________________________

News on TV now has this up to four of these missiles fired and the attempt to fire a long range missile that has failed in firing.

North Korea launches six missiles, including Taepodong 2, on US holiday

1 hour, 36 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - North Korea has launched six missiles, including a long-range Taepodong 2 capable of reaching US territory, in a move that US and Japanese government officials dubbed provocative.

Details of the launches are still being analyzed Tuesday, but a senior US government official confirmed that a Taepodong 2 was one of the missiles fired.

US officials said the North Korean military first fired two Scud-type short-range missiles that landed in the Sea of Japan and later the Taepodong 2 that "failed early in flight."

More launches were believed possible.

The US missile defense system, based in California, Alaska and onboard US Navy ships, was on high alert in anticipation of the Taepodong 2 test, and ready to shoot any missile down if it threatened US territory.

But since it failed at an early stage, "no action was taken," said a defense official.

A senior official announced the United States was sending its senior envoy for six-nation North Korean nuclear talks, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, to Asia to discuss the situation on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, held urgent consultations with his foreign counterparts, but no formal meeting of the UN Security Council was scheduled.

In Tokyo, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told reporters the missiles landed in the Sea of Japan several hundred kilometers (miles) from the coast of Japan.

"Today's launches were done despite advance warning by the relevant countries. This is a grave problem in terms of peace and stability not only of Japan but also of international society. We strongly protest against North Korea," said Abe, the government's top spokesman.

Japan is particularly sensitive to such moves by North Korea, which in 1998 fired a Taepodong-1 missile over Japan into the Pacific, prompting Tokyo and Washington to step up cooperation to build missile defenses.

A senior US official described the launches as a "provocative act," adding that one of the missiles launched by North Korea was the long-range Taepodong 2 capable of hitting US soil.

"We verified they have launched the long-range missile Taepodong 2," the official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

"It's a provocative act for them to do this in general," the official, who asked not to be named, said of the missile launches.

The White House had no immediate comment.

The launches came as millions of Americans celebrated Independence Day and minutes after the US space shuttle Discovery roared into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Meanwhile, US President George W. Bush celebrated his 60th birthday two days early with a group of friends at the White House after making a stay-the-course speech on Iraq at the sprawling Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said last Thursday that he and president Bush had agreed to impose unspecified "pressures" on North Korea if it launched a long-range missile.

The United States had been monitoring a potential launch of a Taepodong 2 missile and Bush criticized North Korea last Thursday -- during a meeting with Koizumi -- saying that Pyongyang had failed to inform the world of its missile intentions.

Assistant Secretary of State Hill warned last Thursday that a long-range missile launch by North Korea could derail future six-party talks over Pyongyang's nuclear program.

He told US lawmakers that he remained uncertain whether North Korea intended to resume the stalled talks that also include China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

"The question that keeps me up at night is: are they serious?" Hill asked. He said that a potential North Korea missile test would have "the opposite effect" and actually compromise rather than strengthen the regime's future security.

Preparations for the launch of a multi-stage Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 6,700 kilometers (4,200 miles) have been underway for several weeks at Musudanri on the remote northeast coast of North Korea. US reports have said a launch was imminent.

North Korea said last year it would no longer keep to a moratorium on launches.

North Korea launches six missiles, including Taepodong 2, on US holiday (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060704/wl_asia_afp/nkoreamissilemilitary_060704231508;_ylt=ArxKdwgDK8Hejfgf6s2bSR_uOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--)

Russia Puts Number of N Korean Missile Launches at 10

North Korea launched a total of 10 missiles, the head of Russia’s General Staff was quoted as saying on Wednesday, but he could not confirm how many of them were intercontinental weapons.

“Our control systems can confirm that the rockets were launched,” he told reporters in the town of Chita, near the Mongolian border, the Reuters news agency quoted the Russian miliatry official as saying.

“Ten rockets were launched. According to one set of data, they were rockets of different classes. According to another set of data, they were all intercontinental. I can only say what class they were after receiving the technical data.”

UN emergency meeting after North Korea missile tests


Ambassadors from the 15 states on the UN Security Council went into emergency talks today to discuss North Korea's test-firing of at least seven ballistic missiles, one of them with the potential range to reach Alaska.

But while Japan, clearly threatened by the development, promised to push for sanctions, the Chinese envoy played down the seriousness of the crisis and suggested that the UN Council would not need to pass a formal resolution.

The first tests were carried out at dawn and a seventh at 5.22pm local time (0922 BST). Russia said that a total of ten missiles had been fired, although that could not be confirmed.

Within hours, Japan drafted a resolution criticising the launches and suspended a ferry servicing connecting the two countries. "The international community needs to sternly denounce the North Korean action, and it is important to have a united response," said the Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) defied months of warnings from foreign governments, including China, its most important ally, to test-fire the missles. The state news agency made no mention of the tests but referred to Pyongyang's "invincible military might".

The Pentagon observed six tests, including the suspected launch of a Taepodong-2 long-range missile. that can reach Alaska, but the head of Russia’s General Staff was quoted saying that as many as 10 weapons were fired.

According to US officials, at least four of the six missiles were short and medium range Scud-type weapons. The missile believed to be the Taepodong-2 failed just 40 seconds after lifting off at 5.01am local time (21.01 BST). All the rockets fell harmlessly into the Sea of Japan.

The tests, which came as a surprise after eight years in which North Korea has observed a moratorium on firing long-range missiles, have unsettled financial markets and provoked a hail of diplomatic protest. South Korea put its military on high alert and said ministerial talks with Pyongyang, scheduled for next week, could be suspended.

"We will make a decision soon by putting various situations into consideration," said Lee Kwan-Sei, South Korea’s Assistant Unification Minister, who added that a delivery of 150,000 tonnes of fertiliser to the impoverished state would go ahead.

Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, condemned the tests and urged North Korea to return to the Six Party talks on the future of its nuclear programme.

"I was concerned to learn that the Government of the DPRK had gone ahead with these missile launches, despite international pressure on them not to. These tests are provocative, and only serve to raise tensions in the region," she said.

"The only way the DPRK will be able to resolve international concerns about its nuclear and missile programmes is through diplomatic negotiation."

Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, also condemned the North Korean action, saying that the outrage heard around the world after the missle tests was a message to Pyongyang to "change its behaviour".

The first batch of missile tests took place over four hours last night and were timed to coincide with the fireworks of the US Fourth of July celebrations and the launch of the space shuttle Discovery.

As the Security Council members went into their emergency talks, however, it was clear that China, which wields a veto, might block any firm condemnation or action.

Shinichi Kitaoka, Japan's deputy ambassador to the world body, said that his country would push for a formal resolution from the Council, which diplomats said would be under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter and thus be militarily enforceable. The diplomat said: "Sanctions is probably included in our first proposal."

But Wang Guangya, the Chinese ambassador, while expressing concern about the North Korean missile tests, pointedly drew a parallel with the last such tests eight years ago, when the Security Council contented itself with issuing a press statement - which did not even become part of the Council's official record.

"Certainly I think this is not the first time the Security Council takes action on this particular issue, because we had a precedent in 1998. So if all Council members feel that some appropriate action is needed by the Council, then we will see," he said.

US refuses to be rattled by N Korea

North Korea's autocratic, secretive, unpredictable leader has defied the international community and reneged on a promise not to test-launch missiles.

On the face of it Kim Jong-il's launch of seven missiles is alarming.

One was a new long-range missile that could be capable - in theory - of hitting the United States.

North Korea says it already has nuclear weapons. Once again it has shown itself to be a dangerous "rogue nation" that has given the world cause for concern.

Remember North Korea - along with Iran and Iraq - was part of President George W Bush's "axis of evil".

There is understandable worry and anxiety in Washington, but as yet that has not translated into a sense of panic.

The Taepodong-2 missile failed 40 seconds after launch.

And the US does not believe that North Korea has developed the technology to fire a nuclear warhead.

In short - as the Bush administration has made clear - the missile launch did not pose a direct security threat to the United States.

There is no suggestion that North Korea's behaviour will precipitate military action, either from North Korea's neighbours or the United States.

International front

As far as the Bush administration is concerned, this is the time for the international community to present a united front, an opportunity to turn events to their advantage.

America's goal is the same as that of North Korea's neighbours: to get Pyongyang to return to six-party talks aimed at persuading the communist country to abandon its nuclear programme.

Last year - after initial signs of progress - North Korea walked away from those talks.

The US is refusing to yield to Pyongyang's request for direct talks.

The Bush administration believes this is a regional issue - rather than a bilateral one - that must be sorted out in the framework of the six-party talks.

Washington hopes that North Korea's latest actions will spur the international community into action, at first by issuing a strong condemnation of North Korea from the UN Security Council.

The US is looking to China and South Korea in particular.

Both countries still have considerable economic and some political influence on the communist regime.

Sanctions

Talk of sanctions though is more problematic.

China and South Korea have in the past been reluctant to go down that path.

It is also possible that increased sanctions may backfire.

One reason why North Korea walked away from the six-party talks was the imposition of financial sanctions by the United States.

Though it is impossible to get into the mind of Kim Jong-il, he has clearly been watching the way the world reacts to Iran's less advanced nuclear programme.

The international community has been offering Iran a package of "incentives" to persuade it to suspend its uranium enrichment programme. North Korea will be asking why it has not been offered the same.

While sanctions might deepen North Korea's isolation, they may also increase its unpredictability and therefore increase the danger.

No-one can be certain of North Korea's intentions, but its actions have certainly created a sense of urgency in addressing the threat.

N. Korea defends missile tests

In Pyongyang's first official comment since test-firing seven missiles on Wednesday, a foreign ministry spokesman said the tests were successful and a "legitimate right of a sovereign state."

North Korea "will have no option but to take stronger physical actions of other forms, should any other country dare take issue with the exercises and put pressure upon it," the statement run on the state-run agency KCNA said.

Earlier this week, North Korea said it would respond to any pre-emptive U.S. military attack with an "annihilating strike and a nuclear war," according to KCNA reports.

U.N. Security Council members have denounced the tests and say they are considering a draft resolution that would impose sanctions on the Communist nation's missile program.

But China and Russia have expressed the desire for a weaker statement -- something that would avoid sanctions and the weight of international law.

"This is the view of the international community, that actions taken should be constructive to maintaining peace in that part of the world," Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said.

China is one of five permanent council members, including Russia, with veto power and, as North Korea's neighbor, is Pyongyang's main provider of food, oil and economic aid.

The diplomats and technical experts are to meet again Thursday to go over the language of the resolution behind closed doors.

All of the seven missiles fired by North Korea early Wednesday local time -- six short-range variants of the Soviet-era Scud and one long-range rocket -- fell into the Sea of Japan.

The long-range missile, the Taepodong-2, failed about 40 seconds after it was fired. Some analysts believe it is capable of hitting the western United States.

The White House has said Wednesday's missile launches posed no immediate threat to the United States, but Washington has dispatched Christopher Hill, its top negotiator in the six-party talks, to consult with U.S. allies in Asia.

Six nations -- including the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan along with the United States -- have been meeting to talk about Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

China is sending a top diplomat to Pyongyang next week to try to restart the stalled talks, news agencies have reported. The six-party talks have stalled in recent months as North Korea has insisted on direct talks with Washington.

The United States and Japan had urged Pyongyang to stick with the moratorium on long-range missile tests it declared in 1999, after it fired a Taepodong-1 missile over Japan in 1998.

U.S. President George W. Bush said the missile tests only serve to further isolate North Korea, and vowed to work with the other members in the six-party talks "to remind the leader of North Korea that there is a better way forward for his people."

"It's their choice to make, but what these firings of the rockets have done is isolate the North Koreans further," Bush said.

"And that's sad for the people of North Korea."

Some analysts said the tests were also an effort by impoverished North Korea to redirect attention to the six-party talks.

North Korea defends missile tests, vows to continue the launches

SEOUL, South Korea -- A defiant North Korea on Thursday threatened to test-fire more missiles and warned of even stronger action if opponents of the tests put pressure on the country, amid signs of further activity at the reclusive regime's launch sites.

The further show of bravado by Pyongyang came as the United States and its allies worked to prod the U.N. Security Council to take stern action against the North's seven missile tests on Wednesday.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry, in a statement made through the state-run Korean Central News Agency, insisted that the communist state had the right to missile tests and argued the weapons were needed for defense.

"The successful missile launches were part of our military's regular military drills to strengthen self defense," said the statement. "As a sovereign country, this is our legal right and we are not bound by any international law or bilateral or multilateral agreements."

The statement did not mention the apparent failure of the most advanced missile fired on Wednesday, the long-range Taepodong-2, which security officials say aborted less than a minute after takeoff.

The ministry also appeared to confirm mounting fears in South Korea that the North was preparing for further launches. South Korean officials said intelligence showed continued activity at Northern missile sites, though at least one official said another launch was not imminent.

Pyongyang also vowed to retaliate against efforts to interfere with the launches, but it did not specify what it would do.

"Our military will continue with missile launch drills in the future as part of efforts to strengthen self-defense deterrent. If anyone intends to dispute or add pressure about this, we will have to take stronger physical actions in other forms," the statement said.

At the same time, splits emerged among the critics of the North's testing program.

At the United Nations in New York, China, the North's closest ally, and Russia, which has been trying to re-establish Soviet-era ties with Pyongyang, said only diplomacy could halt North Korea's nuclear and rocket development programs.

In a bid to coordinate strategy, U.S. President George W. Bush held separate telephone talks Thursday morning with the leaders of Japan and South Korea _ his two top allies in the region _ to consult on the North, but with differing results.

Japanese officials said Tokyo and Washington agreed to push for sanctions against Pyongyang, while South Korean officials said they agreed only to cooperate in diplomacy, with no mention of punishing North Korea.

Chief U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill was to head to the region this week. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also planned to visit South Korea in late July for talks on North Korea, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said.

In addition, China's Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei told a visiting Japanese politician that he would go to North Korea soon to urge a return to the stalled six-party nuclear disarmament talks, Kyodo News agency reported.

The report also said that Wu had proposed bilateral U.S.-North Korean talks, and said the missile launches were probably in reaction to a U.S. crackdown on alleged North Korean counterfeiting, money-laundering and other wrongdoing.

The missiles, all of which apparently fell harmlessly into the sea east of the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday, provoked international condemnation, the convening of an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council and calls in Japan for economic sanctions.

Japan's ruling party was set to give rapid consideration to a bill to impose the sanctions, but the measure would not be implemented until an extraordinary session of parliament this fall, officials and news reports said.

South Korean media reported Thursday that North Korea has three or four more missiles on launch pads and ready for firing, while the Japanese government said there were no immediate signs of a long-range missile launch.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service "is closely watching the situation by keeping in mind that North Korea could fire a missile after repairing a technical defect," Choi Jun-taek, a senior official at the agency, told the National Assembly, according to agency spokesman Choi Jae-kun.

The spokesman, however, said another missile test isn't imminent, adding it will take time for the country to repair the glitches.

The North has also barred people from sailing into some areas off the coast until July 11 in a possible sign of preparations for additional launches, Chosun Ilbo newspaper said.

Despite the rise in tensions, South Korean officials said they had no plans to abandon their strategy of attempting to forge stronger ties with Pyongyang. While Seoul condemned the missile tests, it has also called for "patient dialogue" rather than sanctions in response.

"There is no change in the sunshine policy," Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok told the National Assembly on Thursday morning, referring to former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung's policy of rapprochement toward the North. Lee also said there was no need for the South Korean government to block personal exchanges between the two sides.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said the North Korean statement did not rule out a future return to denuclearization talks hosted by Beijing. The talks have been stalled for months by a North Korean boycott.

"I think North Korea left the door open for participating in the six-party talks," Ban told lawmakers. "Our government will continue with its efforts for early resumption" of the talks.

Bush has urged world leaders to stand united in demanding that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons program, saying the communist nation remains a threat even though its long-range missile faltered. The U.S. administration said North Korea's barrage of seven test missiles further walled off the reclusive nation from the rest of the world.

Japan, within range of North Korean missiles, circulated a U.N. Security Council resolution that would ban any country from transferring funds, material and technology that could be used in North Korea's missile and weapons of mass destruction programs.

China and Russia countered that they favor a weaker council statement without any threat of sanctions. Both countries hold veto power on the council.

Since this is about missles in the east.....................

Taiwan to test-fire missile: report
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Jul 6, 5:08 AM (ET)

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan plans to test-fire a missile capable of hitting China, alarming the island's main ally, the United States, a cable news network said on Thursday.

The Hsiung Feng III, developed by Taiwan's Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, has a range of 600 km (360 miles) and is accurate to within half a meter, the online edition of cable news network ETTV (http://www.ettoday.com) said, quoting unnamed military sources.

That range would put areas along China's coast from Fuzhou in Fujian Province to Nan'ao in Guangdong within striking distance of the missile, the Web site said.

A defense ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report when reached by telephone. A spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry also declined to comment.

China, which has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since their split in 1949 at the end of the Chinese civil war, has deployed nearly 800 short-range ballistic missiles aimed at the self-ruled island in case it formally declares independence.

Taiwan successfully test-fired the missile last year, local media have reported, and the Web site said the next test was planned for September.

The United States, which recognizes Beijing's "one China" policy but is Taiwan's major supplier of arms, had expressed its concern to the Taiwan government, the Web site said.

North Korea acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that it had launched several missiles, vowed to carry out more tests and threatened to use force if the international community tried to stop it.

Taiwan to test-fire missile: report (http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060706/2006-07-06T090829Z_01_TP235236_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-TAIWAN-CHINA-MISSILES-DC.html)

IRAN FINANCES N. KOREAN MISSILE PROGRAM

LONDON [MENL] -- Iran has been financing a North Korean program to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Western intelligence sources said Teheran has been financing Pyongyang's intermediate- and ICBM programs for nearly a decade. The sources said the funding was part of a deal in which North Korea would share missile technology and equipment with Iran.

"Anytime you hear of a North Korean success, translate that directly into an Iranian success," an intelligence source said. "You can be sure that within a few weeks, Iran will receive briefings, training and eventually production expertise from Pyongyang."

On Tuesday, North Korea was said to have fired six missiles. U.S. officials said Pyongyang launched the Taepo Dong-2, estimated to have a range of between 3,400 and 4,000 kilometers. They said the flight of the Taepo Dong-2 lasted 40 seconds and the missile fell in the Sea of Japan.

IRAN FINANCES N. KOREAN MISSILE PROGRAM  (http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2006/july/07_06_1.html)

N. Korea missile aimed at area off Hawaii - report

A North Korean missile launched on Wednesday was aimed at an area of the ocean close to Hawaii, a Japanese newspaper reported on Friday.

Experts estimated the Taepodong-2 ballistic missile to have a range of up to 6,000 km, putting Alaska within its reach. Wednesday's launch apparently failed shortly after take-off and the missile landed in the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan, a few hundred kilometres from the launch pad.

But data from U.S. and Japanese Aegis radar-equipped destroyers and surveillance aircraft on the missile's angle of take-off and altitude indicated that it was heading for waters near Hawaii, the Sankei Shimbun reported, citing multiple sources in the United States and Japan.

North Korea may have targeted Hawaii to show the United States that it was capable of landing a missile there, or because it is home to the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific fleet, the paper said.

An alternative explanation might be that a missile could accidentally hit land if fired towards Alaska, the report said.

A separate report in the Mainichi Shimbun daily cited U.S. and Japanese government officials as saying a piece of the Taepodong-2 missile fell off immediately after take-off, strengthening the view that the launch was a failure.

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It looks to me like they wanted an encounter with the U.S.

N. Korea Threatens to Fire More Missiles

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea angrily mocked international criticism of its multiple missile tests, threatening on Thursday to fire off more rockets.

In the face of nearly unanimous world condemnation of the seven missile tests on Wednesday, Pyongyang's foreign minister released a blustery statement declaring that it had the right to develop and test its weapons _ and vowing unspecified retaliation against anyone who tries to stop it.

"Our military will continue with missile launch drills in the future as part of efforts to strengthen self-defense deterrent," said the statement, carried in state-run media. "If anyone intends to dispute or add pressure about this, we will have to take stronger physical actions in other forms."

The statement did not specify what actions North Korea would take.

The aggressive stance from Pyongyang coincided with intense diplomatic activity in world capitals to formulate a response to the tests. Washington and its allies _ particularly Japan _ clamored for sanctions against the North, but struggled against resistance by China and Russia.

North Korea set off an international furor on Wednesday when it tested seven missiles, all of which landed into the Sea of Japan without causing any damage. The blasts apparently included a long-range Taepodong-2 that broke up less than a minute after takeoff and splashed into the sea.

On Friday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei _ their nations' senior negotiators on North Korea _ conferred on the missile tests.

Hill and Wu exchanged pleasantries before their meeting. After its conclusion, Hill was scheduled to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, before the U.S. envoy heads for Seoul.

A Japanese newspaper reported Friday that North Korea had targeted South Pacific waters in the vicinity of Hawaii with the long-range missile. The conservative daily Sankei cited unnamed U.S. and Japanese and officials as saying Japan's Defense Agency and the U.S. military reached that conclusion after analyzing the missile's path from data collected from intelligence equipment. The report couldn't be immediately independently confirmed.

The statement threatening more tests came as South Korean officials said intelligence reports showed continued activity at Northern missile sites, suggesting further firings could be in the works.

It was unclear if or when the missiles would fly. Japanese officials said they had no indications another Taepodong test was being prepared, and South Korean officials said the launches were not imminent.

Still, the North pulled no punches in its statement, hailing the launches on Wednesday as a success and making no mention of the Taepodong-2 failure.

"The successful missile launches were part of our military's regular military drills to strengthen self defense," said the statement. "As a sovereign country, this is our legal right and we are not bound by any international law or bilateral or multilateral agreements."

The ministry also denied it had violated a missile moratorium, saying it was only in effect when Pyongyang was in dialogue with the U.S. The statement also blamed the Japanese for making an international issue out of North Korea's unsolved kidnappings of Japanese citizens.

Meanwhile, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Friday that Australia has decided to curtail its diplomatic ties with North Korea over the tests.

The report said that Michael L'Estrange, head of the country's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said departmental dealings with North Korean officials will be canceled.

The report did not elaborate and calls to the department seeking confirmation were not immediately returned.

Australia is one of a handful of countries that maintains limited diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.

Bush Wants Clear Lines Set for N. Korea

President Bush said Friday he wants to rally world support in confronting North Korea over its missile tests to send an unmistakable message to the leader of the communist regime.

"It's your choice, Kim Jong Il. You've got the choice to make," Bush said.

In a rare out-of-town news conference, Bush also vowed to keep hunting for terror leader Osama bin Laden, a search that has been fruitless in the nearly five years since the Sept. 11 attacks.

"No ands, ifs or buts, my judgment is it's a matter of time - unless we stop looking, and we're not going to stop looking as long as I'm president," Bush said.

He also said anew that he would await a recommendation from Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, on when to withdraw American forces.

"We will lose if we leave too early," Bush said. There are just under 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

Bush sought to explain why he was committed to seeking U.N. Security Council support on dealing with North Korea, whereas he launched the invasion of Iraq in 2003 after failing to obtain the council's support.

"All diplomatic options were exhausted as far as I was concerned" in confronting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Bush said.

At the same time, Bush conceded that awaiting U.N. consensus, both on dealing with North Korea and Iran, was adding to delay.

"You know, the problem with diplomacy: It takes a while to get something done. If you're acting alone, you can move quickly," Bush said

He said he wanted to make clear to the North Korean leader "with more than one voice" that the world condemned the test firing this week of seven missiles, including a long-range missile that failed.

Bush said the United States had "a reasonable chance" of shooting down the long-range missile, if it had not failed.

But he also said, "Our anti-ballistic systems are modest, they are new."

The United States has a rudimentary missile defense program in which interceptor missiles based in Alaska and California - linked to a network of satellites, radar, computers and command centers - are designed to strike and destroy incoming ballistic missiles.

The Pentagon says the system is capable of defending against a limited number of missiles in an emergency - such as a North Korean attack. More than $100 billion has been spent on the program since 1983.

The setting for Bush's news conference was the rotunda of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. He stood in front of a large photograph of Chicago skyscrapers. The setting underscored the lengths the White House went to, to pose the president outside of Washington.

Bush gave a rambling 15 minute opening statement in which he talked about Chicago's vibrant economy, the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq.

Bush is spending more time on the road this summer - and less time vacationing on his Texas ranch - as part of a public-relations effort aimed at boosting his low standing in polls and GOP chances in this fall's midterm elections.

"It might do me some good," he said.

Following a government report showing unemployment holding steady at 4.6 percent in June, Bush also praised the U.S. economy. "Productivity is high, people are better off, people are working," he said.

Bush said immigration was one of the top issues in this midterm election year. "The system we have now isn't working," he said.

In defending his decision to seek U.N. support on North Korea, Bush said that the leader of the reclusive communist regime in Pyongyang had "defied China and Japan and South Korea and Russia and the United States."

"All of us said, 'Don't fire that rocket.' He not only fired one, he fired seven. Now that he made that defiance, it's best for all of us to go to the U.N. Security Council and say, loud and clear, 'Here's some red lines.' And that's what we're in the process of doing," Bush said.

He said he still hopes to resume stalled six-nation talk's designed to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions, and once again ruled out direct talks between just the U.S. and North Korea.

"My judgment is you can't be successful if the United States is sitting at the table alone with North Korea. You run out of options very quickly if that's the case," he said. "In order to be successful diplomatically it's best to have other partners at the table"

Turning to efforts to restrict Iran's nuclear program, Bush noted that some nations had economic interests in Iran that colored the deliberations.

"Part of our objective is to make sure national security interests trump economic interests," he said.

A local reporter asked the president what he thought of some Republican candidates keeping their distance this election year because of his low poll numbers. The reporter cited a comment from an aide to Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka, who reportedly had said Bush would be welcome only in the middle of the night.

"It didn't work," Bush laughed, noting he was going straight from the news conference to a lunchtime fundraiser for Topinka, the state's treasurer who is running to unseat Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The event was drawing about 500 people and was expected to add a hefty $1.1 million-plus to Topinka's campaign account. "I was invited, I gladly came and I think we're going to have a pretty successful fundraiser for her," Bush said

 U.S. deploys missile destroyer to Japan

A new top-of-the-line U.S. guided missile destroyer was deployed to Japan on Saturday, amid tensions over North Korea's missile tests.

The USS Mustin sailed into the port of Yokosuka, home to the Navy's 7th Fleet, with a crew of 300 for permanent assignment to the region, 7th Fleet spokeswoman Hanako Tomizuka said.

The Mustin, commissioned in 2003, is one of the most advanced in the fleet.

Its deployment to Yokosuka was previously planned and not in response to North Korea's missile tests, Tomizuka said.

Pyongyang stunned the region on Wednesday by test-firing seven missiles.

In August, Yokosuka will also welcome the USS Shiloh, which last month demonstrated its ability to shoot down missile warheads in a landmark test off the coast of Hawaii.

Both the Mustin and the Shiloh are equipped with radar systems that employ so-called Aegis technology, which is geared toward tracking and shooting down enemy missiles.

The system was instrumental in identifying and assessing Wednesday's missile launchings, which all fell apparently harmlessly into the Sea of Japan.

The U.S. Navy now has eight Aegis-equipped vessels at Yokosuka.

 Russia secretly offered North Korea nuclear technology
By a Special Correspondent in Pyongyang and Michael Hirst
(Filed: 09/07/2006)

Russia is facing criticism after secretly offering to sell North Korea technology that could help the rogue state to protect its nuclear stockpiles and safeguard weapons secrets from international scrutiny.

Russian officials touted the equipment at an IT exhibition in Pyongyang a fortnight ago - just days before the Communist state caused international alarm by launching a salvo of short and long-range missiles into the Sea of Japan.

In what appear to have been unguarded comments, Aleksei Grigoriev, the deputy director of Russia's Federal Information Technologies Agency, told a reporter that North Korea planned to buy equipment for the safe storage and transportation of nuclear materials, developed by a Russian government-controlled defence company.

The company, Atlas, also received interest from the North Koreans in their security systems and encryption technology - which were kept from display at the exhibition for security reasons.

In remarks made to the Russian Itar-Tass news agency - hastily retracted after publication - Mr Grigoriev said that the main aim of the June 28 exhibition was "establishing contacts with the Korean side and discussing future co-operation". Last week Russia, along with China, opposed a draft UN Security Council resolution, proposed by Japan and backed by America, that would bar missile-related financial and technology transactions with North Korea because of the missile tests.

As tensions over the missile tests mounted, the US government yesterday deployed its USS Mustin, equipped with so-called Aegis missile-tracking technology that is geared towards tracking and shooting down enemy missiles, to Yokosuka, home port to the US Navy's 7th Fleet.

On Friday, George W Bush called for the issue of the missile tests to be put before the Security Council. He said he wanted to make clear to Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader, "with more than one voice" that the rest of the world condemned Wednesday's launches.

Sources close to the proposed sale of the equipment - which would have civil and military uses - said that it was evidence of Russia's secret support for its Soviet-era ally, which was once a bulwark against Chinese influence in the Far East. It was reported that the North Korean military interest in the exhibition stemmed from the dual purpose of many of the products and technologies on display.

After the show, which led to plans for further meetings between the Russian and North Korean delegations, Mr Grigoriev said Pyongyang's primary interest in buying the equipment was to combat the "threat posed by international terrorism". However, the Russian embassy in Pyongyang immediately denied the report, claiming that it was "disinformation". Mr Grigoriev subsequently denied ever having spoken to the journalist concerned.

Disclosures of a possible deal are at odds with official Russian policy towards North Korea's nuclear programme. On June 22, North Korea's ambassador to Russia, Park Yi Joon, was summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow and informed that -Russia "strongly objects to any actions that can negatively influence regional stability and worsen nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula".

There was also some anger domestically at Russia's opposition to the UN sanctions resolution. Although the Russian foreign ministry expressed anger that Moscow had not been notified of the launches, it went no further than issuing an anodyne statement expressing concern that the tests endangered Pacific Ocean shipping and "violated the commonly accepted world practice of giving a warning".

Western experts were not surprised that the two countries might be discussing sensitive military deals.

Nicholas Eberstadt, a North Korea expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington, said that Russian policy towards North Korea had long been influenced by the desire to restore its Cold War-era influence.

"Russia often seems more ambitious to restore that influence than to play a positive role in international affairs," he said. "We've got no reason to doubt that Moscow is playing a double game with North Korea. It's not entirely surprising considering Vladimir Putin himself came up with the harebrained suggestion some years ago that Moscow, as a protector and provider for the North Korean regime, launch a North Korean satellite."

Mr Eberstadt suggested that any controversial business deals would be politically costly for the Kremlin. "If Moscow wishes to be on the record as the sole defender and apologist for the world's remaining revisionist and nuclear-proliferating regimes, then it would be interesting to see how its European friends would react."

 Russia secretly offered North Korea nuclear technology (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/09/wkorea09.xml)

NKorea braced for 'all-out war' as tensions mount

by Jun Kwanwoo Sun Jul 9, 9:39 AM ET

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has vowed no compromise and said he was braced for "all-out war" as tension mounted ahead of a UN vote on whether to impose sanctions on Pyongyang for its missile tests.

Japan, which with the United States has led the push to punish the communist state, said it would not rule out a preemptive strike on North Korea in case of a direct nuclear threat, leading Seoul to accuse Tokyo of aggravating the situation.

As China and Russia held firm Sunday against the UN draft resolution to put further sanctions on the impoverished North, a US envoy stressed a diplomatic solution on disarmament and urged Pyongyang to return to stalled talks on disarmament.

But Kim, in his first reported remarks since his regime test fired seven missiles into the sea Wednesday, pledged not to give up his weapons programs.

"The General has declared that not even a tiny concession will be made to the imperialist US invaders, our arch enemy," said a broadcast on North Korean state television, as monitored by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

Kim, who never speaks himself in public, said that if the United States took "revenge," it would mean "all-out war."

"It is out of the General's conviction, desire and courage that we should respond to the enemy's knife with a sword and to the enemy's gun with a cannon," the television said.

North Korea, which declared last year it had nuclear weapons, in November walked out of six-way talks on ending its nuclear program, protesting a set of US financial sanctions.

Last week's missile launch included the new Taepodong-2, which was believed to be capable of reaching Alaska or Hawaii but quickly crashed into the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Tokyo had the right to carry out a preemptive attack in the face of a serious threat despite its pacifist post-World War II constitution.

"It is impossible for us to do nothing until we are attacked by a country which says it has nuclear weapons and could fire missiles against Japan," Aso, an outspoken hawk, told NHK public television.

Aso stood firm on the UN resolution. The Security Council, where Japan has tried in vain to win the same veto power as sanctions opponents China and Russia, will decide Monday when to vote on the draft.

"If we give in to just one veto power, then we will end up sending a wrong message to the international community," Aso said.

South Korea, which has sour ties with Japan tied to its brutal 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean peninsula, criticized Tokyo for its "shrill voice."

"There is nothing good in heightening tensions on the Korean peninsula and worsening inter-Korean relations. This will not help at all to settle the nuclear issue or the missile issue," said a statement from the office of President Roh Moo-Hyun's spokesman.

Roh also rebuffed his conservative domestic critics who have accused him of jeopardizing security through his policy of seeking reconciliation with Pyongyang.

Both South Korea and China, the North's main ally and host of the six-party talks, were left red-faced by the missile tests, which Pyongyang carried out despite weeks of appeals.

Beijing is to send an envoy Monday to Pyongyang in hopes of persuading the North to take part in an informal round of six-nation talks this month in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang.

Christopher Hill, the US delegate to the six-party nuclear negotiations, has said he is ready to meet one-on-one with the North if it takes part in the unofficial talks.

"What it needs to do is get back to the talks and implement what we already agreed to do and to get out of this dirty nuclear business it is in, to get on (with) its task with modernizing the country," Hill told reporters in Seoul before heading on to Tokyo.

Despite disagreements over sanctions, Hill said Unification Minister Lee Jong-Seok promised to bring up the missile issue during a scheduled meeting this week with his Northern counterpart. Pyongyang has yet to confirm its attendance in the talks.

NKorea braced for 'all-out war' as tensions mount (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060709/wl_asia_afp/nkoreamissile;_ylt=AnHKAckplcmZTzVJ51SxfdgBxg8F;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--)

West mounts 'secret war' to keep nuclear North Korea in check

A PROGRAMME of covert action against nuclear and missile traffic to North Korea and Iran is to be intensified after last week’s missile tests by the North Korean regime.

Intelligence agencies, navies and air forces from at least 13 nations are quietly co-operating in a “secret war” against Pyongyang and Tehran.

It has so far involved interceptions of North Korean ships at sea, US agents prowling the waterfronts in Taiwan, multinational naval and air surveillance missions out of Singapore, investigators poring over the books of dubious banks in the former Portuguese colony of Macau and a fleet of planes and ships eavesdropping on the “hermit kingdom” in the waters north of Japan.

Few details filter out from western officials about the programme, which has operated since 2003, or about the American financial sanctions that accompany it.

But together they have tightened a noose around Kim Jong-il’s bankrupt, hungry nation.

“Diplomacy alone has not worked, military action is not on the table and so you’ll see a persistent increase in this kind of pressure,” said a senior western official.

In a telling example of the programme’s success, two Bush administration officials indicated last year that it had blocked North Korea from obtaining equipment used to make missile propellant.

The Americans also persuaded China to stop the sale of chemicals for North Korea’s nuclear weapons scientists. And a shipload of “precursor chemicals” for weapons was seized in Taiwan before it could reach a North Korean port.

According to John Bolton, the US ambassador to the United Nations and the man who originally devised the programme, it has made a serious dent in North Korea’s revenues from ballistic missile sales.

But the success of Bolton’s brainchild, the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), whose stated aim is to stop the traffic in weapons of mass destruction, might also push North Korea into extreme reactions.

Britain is a core member of the initiative, which was announced by President George W Bush in Krakow, Poland, on May 31, 2003. British officials have since joined meetings of “operational experts” in Australia, Europe and the US, while the Royal Navy has contributed ships to PSI exercises. The participants include Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Italy, Spain and Singapore, among others.

There has been almost no public debate in the countries committed to military involvement. A report for the US Congress said it had “no international secretariat, no offices in federal agencies established to support it, no database or reports of successes and failures and no established funding”.

To Bolton and senior British officials, those vague qualities make it politically attractive.

In the past 10 months, since the collapse of six-nation talks in Beijing on North Korea’s nuclear weapons, the US and its allies have also tightened the screws on Kim’s clandestine fundraising, which generated some $500m a year for the regime.

Robert Joseph, the US undersecretary for arms control, has disclosed that 11 North Korean “entities” — trading companies or banks — plus six from Iran and one from Syria were singled out for action under an executive order numbered 13382 and signed by Bush.

For the first time, the US Secret Service and the FBI released details of North Korean involvement in forging $100 notes and in selling counterfeit Viagra, cigarettes and amphetamines in collaboration with Chinese gangsters.

The investigators homed in on a North Korean trading company and two banks in Macau. The firm, which had offices next to a casino and a “sauna”, was run by North Koreans with diplomatic passports, who promptly vanished.

The two banks, Seng Heng bank and Banco Delta Asia, denied any wrongdoing. But the Macau authorities stepped in after a run on Banco Delta Asia and froze some $20m in North Korean accounts.

Last week the North Koreans demanded the money as a precondition for talks but the Americans brushed off their protest.

Kim told Hu Jintao, the Chinese president in January that his government was being strangled, diplomats in the Chinese capital said. “He has warned the Chinese leaders his regime could collapse and he knows that is the last thing we want,” said a Chinese source close to the foreign ministry.

The risk being assessed between Washington and Tokyo this weekend is how far Kim can be pushed against the wall before he undertakes something more lethal than last week’s display of force.

The “Dear Leader” has turned North Korea into a military-dominated state to preserve his own inherited role at the apex of a Stalinist personality cult. Although he appears erratic, and North Korea’s rhetoric is extreme, most diplomats who have met him think Kim is highly calculating.

“He is a very tough Korean nationalist and he knows exactly how to play the power game — very hard,” said Professor Shi Yinhong, an expert in Beijing.

But the costly failure of Kim’s intercontinental missile, the Taepodong 2, after just 42 seconds of flight last Wednesday, was a blow to his prestige and to the force of his deterrent. Six other short and medium-range missiles splashed into the Sea of Japan without making any serious military point.

The United States and its allies are now preoccupied by what Kim might do with the trump card in his arsenal — his stockpile of plutonium for nuclear bombs.

“The real danger is that the North Koreans could sell their plutonium to another rogue state — read Iran — or to terrorists,” said a western diplomat who has served in Pyongyang. American officials fear Iran is negotiating to buy plutonium from North Korea in a move that would confound the international effort to stop Tehran’s nuclear weapons programme.

The prospect of such a sale is “the next big thing”, said a western diplomat involved with the issue. The White House commissioned an intelligence study on the risk last December but drew no firm conclusions.

Plutonium was the element used in the atomic bomb that destroyed Nagasaki in 1945. It would give Iran a rapid route to the bomb as an alternative to the conspicuous process of enriching uranium which is the focus of international concern.

American nuclear scientists estimate North Korea is “highly likely” to have about 43kg and perhaps as much as 53kg of the material. Between 7kg and 9kg are needed for a weapon.

Siegfried Hecker, former head of the US Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory, has warned that North Korea’s plutonium would fit into a few suitcases and would be impossible to detect if it were sold.

For the first time since the crisis over its nuclear ambitions began in 1994, North Korea has made enough plutonium to sell a quantity to its ally while keeping sufficient for its own use.

North Korea is known to have sold 1.7 tons of uranium to Libya. It has sold ballistic missiles to Iran since the 1980s. American officials have said Iran is already exchanging missile test data for nuclear technology from Pyongyang. The exchanges probably involve flight monitoring for Scud-type rockets and techniques of uranium centrifuge operation.

Relations deepened between the two surviving regimes in Bush’s “axis of evil” after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s military and scientific links with North Korea have grown rapidly.

Last November western intelligence sources told the German magazine Der Spiegel that a high-ranking Iranian official had travelled to Pyongyang to offer oil and natural gas in exchange for more co-operation on nuclear technology and ballistic missiles. Iran’s foreign ministry denied the report but diplomats in Beijing and Pyongyang believe it was accurate. At the same time evidence emerged through Iranian dissidents in exile that North Korean experts were helping Iran build nuclear-capable missiles in a vast tunnel complex under the Khojir and Bar Jamali mountains near Tehran.

So while one nation, North Korea, boasts of its nuclear weapons and the other, Iran, denies wanting them at all, the world is on edge. If the stakes are high in the nuclear terror game, they are equally high for the balance of power in Asia and thus for global prosperity.

North Korea’s aggressive behaviour and a record of kidnapping Japanese citizens have created new willpower among politicians in Tokyo to strengthen their military forces. To China, Japan’s wartime adversary, that signals a worrying change in the strategic equation. Nationalism in both countries is on the rise. Relations between the two are at their worst for decades.

One scenario is that Japan abandons its pacifist doctrine and becomes a nuclear weapons power. “The Japanese people are very angry and very worried and, right now, they will accept any government plan for the military,” said Tetsuo Maeda, professor of defence studies at Tokyo International University.

The mood favours the ascent of Shinzo Abe, Japan’s hawkish chief cabinet secretary, the man most likely to take over from Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister, who steps down in September. “He will be far more hardline on Pyongyang and I’m firmly of the opinion that he intends to make Japan into a nuclear power,” Maeda said.

cont'd

The government is already committed to installing defensive Pac-3 Patriot missiles in co-operation with the Americans. But radical opinion in Japan has been fortified by Kim’s adventures.

“The vast majority of Japanese agree that we need to be able to carry out first strikes,” said Yoichi Shimada, a professor of international relations at Fukui Prefectural University.

“I spoke to Mr Abe earlier this week and he shares my opinion that for Japan, the most important step would be for Japan to have an offensive missile capability.”

Such talk causes severe concern to Washington, which has sheltered Japan under the umbrella of its nuclear arsenal since forging a security alliance after the second world war.

Divisions within the Bush administration — which even sympathisers concede have paralysed its nuclear diplomacy towards the North — also served to undermine Japanese confidence in America, as have the well-documented failings of American intelligence.

Dan Goure of the Lexington Institute, a think tank with ties to the Pentagon, says: “There’s no human intelligence in North Korea. Zero. Zippo. It’s like looking at your neighbour’s house with a pair of binoculars — and they’ve got their blinds shut.”

Last week Bush was working the phones to the leaders of China and Russia. But British officials think it unlikely that either will support a Japanese proposal for UN sanctions on the North Koreans.

That leaves the Bush administration with the same unpalatable choices that existed a week, a month or a year ago. The military option, to all practical purposes, does not exist. “An attack is highly unlikely to destroy any existing North Korean nuclear weapons capability,” wrote Phillip Saunders of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, in a paper analysing its risks.

“The biggest problem with military options is preventing North Korean retaliation,” Saunders said. He believes half a million artillery shells an hour would be rained on Seoul in the first day of any conflict from North Korean artillery hidden in caves. The North Koreans could fire 200 mobile rocket launchers and launch up to 600 Scud missiles. American and South Korean casualties, excluding civilians, are projected at between 300,000 and 500,000 in the first 90 days of war.

Like former president Bill Clinton’s team, the Bush administration has therefore realised that a diplomatic answer is the only one available.

But years of inattention, division and mixed messages robbed the US of diplomatic influence. One observer tells of watching the US envoy Christopher Hill sit mutely in an important negotiation because policy arguments in Washington had tied his hands.

Yesterday Hill compromised by offering the North Koreans a private meeting if they came back to nuclear talks hosted by China. But American faith in China’s powers of persuasion may have been misplaced.

“China is the source of the problem, not the source of the solution,” argued Edward Timperlake, a defence official in the Reagan administration and author of Showdown, a new book on the prospect of war with China.

Kim ignored Chinese demands to call off the missile tests and some American officials now think Beijing is simply playing off its client against its superpower rival.

The clearest statement of all came from the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” (DPRK) itself. The state news agency said America had used “threats and blackmail” to destroy an agreement to end the dispute. “But for the DPRK’s tremendous deterrent for self-defence, the US would have attacked the DPRK more than once as it had listed it as part of an ‘axis of evil’.”

The lesson of Iraq, the North Koreans said, was now known to everyone.

Japan considers strike against N. Korea 
'I think we must send a message that's as clear as possible'

Japan May Postpone North Korea Resolution

 Japan said Monday it was considering whether a pre-emptive strike on North Korea's missile bases would violate its constitution, signaling a hardening stance ahead of a possible U.N. Security Council vote on Tokyo's proposal for sanctions against the regime. The vote itself could be delayed for several days, a news agency reported.

China asked Japan to postpone the vote until later this week and Japan is prepared to accept, Kyodo News agency said.

 Japanese officials had earlier vowed to push ahead with a resolution that would impose sanctions on North Korea for its missile tests last week, but said Tokyo would not insist on a Monday vote.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters his government wants a vote on the measure "as soon as possible."

"I think we must send a message that's as clear as possible" to North Korea, he said.

Japan was badly rattled by North Korea's missile tests last week and several government officials openly discussed whether the country ought to take steps to better defend itself, including setting up the legal framework to allow Tokyo to launch a pre-emptive strike against Northern missile sites.

"If we accept that there is no other option to prevent an attack ... there is the view that attacking the launch base of the guided missiles is within the constitutional right of self-defense. We need to deepen discussion," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said.

Japan's constitution bars the use of military force in settling international disputes and prohibits Japan from maintaining a military for warfare. Tokyo has interpreted that to mean it can have armed troops to protect itself, allowing the existence of its 240,000-strong Self-Defense Forces.

A Defense Agency spokeswoman, however, said Japan has no offensive weapons such as ballistic missiles that could reach North Korea. Its forces only have ground-to-air missiles and ground-to-vessel missiles, she said on condition of anonymity because of official policy.

Japanese fighter jets and pilots are not capable of carrying out such an attack, a military analyst said.

"Japan's air force is top class in defending the nation's airspace, but attacking another country is almost impossible," said analyst Kazuhisa Ogawa.

"Even if Japan's planes made it to North Korea, they wouldn't make it back ... it would be an act of suicide," he said. "Japan has no capacity to wage war."

Despite resistance from China and Russia, Japan has pushed for the U.N. Security Council resolution, which would bar nations from buying or otherwise receiving missile-related items, materials goods and technology from North Korea.

"It's important for the international community to express a strong will in response to the North Korean missile launches," Abe said. "This resolution is an effective way of expressing that."

China and Russia, both nations with veto power on the council, have voiced opposition to the measure. Kyodo reported Monday, citing unidentified Chinese diplomatic sources, that China may use its veto on the Security Council to block the resolution.

The United States, Britain and France have expressed support for the proposal, while Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso has said there is a possibility that Russia will abstain.

South Korea, not a council member, has not publicly taken a position on the resolution, but on Sunday Seoul rebuked Japan for its outspoken criticism of the tests.

"There is no reason to fuss over this from the break of dawn like Japan, but every reason to do the opposite," a statement from President Roh Moo-hyun's office said, suggesting that Tokyo was contributing to tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Abe said Monday it was "regrettable" that South Korea had accused Japan of overreacting.

"There is no mistake that the missile launch ... is a threat to Japan and the region. It is only natural for Japan to take measures of risk management against such a threat," Abe said.

Meanwhile, a Chinese delegation including the country's top nuclear envoy _ Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei _ arrived Monday in North Korea, officially to attend celebrations marking the 45th anniversary of a friendship treaty between the North and China.

The U.S. is urging Beijing to push its communist ally back into six- party nuclear disarmament talks, but the Chinese government has not said whether Wu would bring up the negotiations. A ministry spokeswoman said last week that China was "making assiduous efforts" in pushing for the talks to resume.

Talks have been deadlocked since November because of a boycott by Pyongyang in protest of a crackdown by Washington on the regime's alleged money-laundering and other financial crimes.

Beijing has suggested an informal gathering of the six nations, which could allow the North to technically stand by its boycott, but at the same time meet with the other five parties _ South Korea, China, the U.S., Japan and Russia. The U.S. has backed the idea and said Washington could meet with the North on the sidelines of such a meeting.

Still, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill questioned just how influential Beijing was with the enigmatic regime.

"I must say the issue of China's influence on DPRK is one that concerns us," Hill told reporters in Tokyo. "China said to the DPRK, 'Don't fire those missiles,' but the DPRK fired them. So I think everybody, especially the Chinese, are a little bit worried about it."

The DPRK refers to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Hill is touring the region to coordinate strategy on North Korea. He has emphasized the need for countries involved to present a united front.

"We want to make it very clear that we all speak in one voice on this provocative action by the North Koreans to launch missiles in all shapes and sizes," Hill said. "We want to make it clear to North Korea that what it did was really unacceptable."

White House: Clinton-era N. Korea policy a failure
By ASSOCIATED PRESS


The White House belittled former President Bill Clinton's policy of direct engagement with North Korea on Monday, saying efforts to shower North Korean leader Kim Jong Il "with flowers and chocolates" had failed.

White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters that officials in Clinton's Democratic administration went to Pyongyang with offers of light-water nuclear reactors, "a basketball signed by Michael Jordan and many other inducements for the dear leader to try to agree not to develop nuclear weapons _ and it failed."

"We've learned from that mistake."

Officials in President George W. Bush's administration have repeatedly rejected the suggestion that formal discussions might be undertaken with Pyongyang outside of six-nation talks meant to rid the North of its nuclear weapons program. Bush officials insist on speaking with the North at a negotiating forum that includes the Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia. Those talks have been stalled since November.

Satellite photos detect activity at NKorea missile bases: report

North Korea could be preparing for new launches of mid-range missiles following last week's tests, with activity detected at its bases, a report has said citing Japanese government sources.

US and Japanese satellite photos show that mid-range Rodong missiles had been set up on launch pads at a base in southeastern North Korea, but were later removed, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported.

Fuel tanks could be seen near the launch pads, the report said.

The report said the satellite photos were taken after last week's tests of seven missiles, but did not give a specific date.

"We think North Korea can launch missiles whenever it wishes," the top-selling daily quoted a government source as saying.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso on Sunday suggested Tokyo would have the right to launch a pre-emptive strike to protect its citizens from a missile launch by Pyongyang.

He said there were "visible signs" of activity at a North Korean missile base from which North Korea launched a Rodong missile last week.

Japan submitted a draft binding resolution in the United Nations Security Council that would impose sanctions on North Korea over the missile tests.

But on Monday, the Security Council put off a vote on the resolution to allow more time for Chinese diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis.

North Korea rejects UN resolution; says missile tests to continue at 17:00 on July 15, 2006, EST.

North Korea said Saturday it "totally rejects" a UN resolution imposing sanctions for its recent missile tests and insisted it will continue the launches to bolster its self-defence.

North Korea's UN Ambassador Pak Gil Yon accused the UN Security Council of trying to isolate his country, known officially as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK.

"The delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea resolutely condemns the attempt of some countries to misuse the Security Council for the despicable political aim to isolate and put pressure on the DPRK and totally rejects the resolution which was adopted at the current meeting of the Security Council," he said.

The Korean People's Army "will go on with missile launch exercises as part of its efforts to bolster deterrent for self-defence in the future, too," he said.

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Saturday imposing limited sanctions on North Korea for its recent missile tests and demanding it suspend its ballistic-missile program.

The resolution bans all UN member states from selling material or technology for missiles or weapons of mass destruction to North Korea - and it bans all countries from receiving missiles, banned weapons or technology from Pyongyang.

The agreement culminated 10 days of difficult negotiations and was reached after a last-minute compromise among Japan, the United States and Britain - who wanted a tough statement - and Russia and China, who favoured weaker language.

In the final negotiations, the council was divided on one issue: If the resolution should be adopted under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which allows for the use of military force to make sure the resolution is obeyed.

China had threatened to veto any resolution that mentioned Chapter 7 and in the final compromise it was dropped. The resolution adopted Saturday by a 15-0 vote states that the Security Council was "acting under its special responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security."

Japan, which views itself as a potential target of North Korean missiles, sponsored the initial resolution but it was put to a vote as a presidential text, with the support of all council members.

"The council has acted swiftly and robustly in response to the reckless and condemnable act of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," Japan's Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Chintaro Ito told the council .

The resolution condemns North Korea's multiple missile launches July 5 and demands North Korea "suspend all activities related to its ballistic-missile program."

It also demands Pyongyang re-establish a moratorium on missile-launching.

The Security Council strongly urged North Korea to return to six-party talks on its nuclear program which have been stalled since last September.

U.S.: N. Korea Must Return to Arms Talks

 Buoyed by a U.N. Security Council resolution sanctioning North Korea, the Bush administration said Sunday that the reclusive communist nation will have no choice but to ultimately return to nuclear disarmament talks.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned that additional pressure could be brought against North Korea by world powers.

 The White House shrugged off North Korea's rejection of the Security Council's decision.

"It's probably not surprising that they have immediately rejected it," said Dan Bartlett, President Bush's senior counselor. "But sometimes the first response is not the only response or the final response. But what it says is that the world is speaking with one voice."

The Security Council demanded Saturday that North Korea suspend its ballistic missile program. The resolution bans all U.N. member states from selling material or technology for missiles or weapons of mass destruction to North Korea, and from receiving missiles, banned weapons or technology from Pyongyang.

North Korea warned that the resolution was a prelude to a renewed Korean war.

The North also said it would "bolster its war deterrent for self- defense," a typical phrase often used to refer to the country's nuclear weapons program.

"Our republic vehemently denounces and roundly refutes the 'resolution,' a product of the U.S. hostile policy towards the DPRK, and will not be bound to it in the least," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. DPRK is the abbreviation for the North's official name.

Rice, here with Bush for a summit of world leaders, warned that North Korea could face additional action.

"If they do not want to face some of the additional pressures that can be brought to bear on them, then I think that they will eventually realize that they've got to come back to the six-party talks," she said. "That's really the only game in town."

The six-party talks involve China, North and South Korea, Japan, Russia and the United States. The talks have been stalled since last September. North Korea has not agreed to return.

Rice praised the Security Council resolution and expressed particular pleasure that China voted for it. China is believed to have more influence on North Korea than any other country and has been reluctant to impose sanctions on North Korea.

She said the six party talks are "really paying off. Because we really now have a coalition."

"I think ultimately North Korea will have no choice but to return to the talks and pursue denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," Rice told reporters.

Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao met Sunday in a villa on the ground of the palace where summit talks are being held and pledged to work together to diffuse crises with North Korea and Iran.

"Both parties expressed their commitment to maintain peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," Hu said.

Hu said they also would work together on a peaceful solution to the nuclear showdown with Iran.

Bush thanked Hu for China's support of the U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea, and for working together on Iran.

Both men said they also discussed economic, trade and other issues.

N Korea rejects missile sanctions


North Korea said that it would not be bound by a UN Security Council resolution imposing weapons-related sanctions, and insisted that it would continue to “bolster its war deterrent”.

The resolution condemned missile launches on July 5 and demanded a suspension of all missile activities and a return to talks. “Our republic will bolster its war deterrent for self-defence in every way, by all means and methods, now that the situation has reached the worst phase due to the extremely hostile act of the US,” a North Korean spokesman said .

President Hu of China called for talks to resume. “Both sides expressed their commitment to maintain peace and stability on the Korean peninsula,” Mr Hu said after meeting President Bush at the G8 summit.

The resolution requires all UN members to prevent imports and exports of any material or funds relating to North Korea’s missile programmes or weapons of mass destruction.

It took the council ten days to agree its response to Pyongyang’s test-firings of seven missiles, including one that could theoretically hit the US.