U.S. Army Activates X-Band Radar in Northern Japan
September 28, 2006 :: AP :: News
The U.S. Army has now activated an X-band radar in northern Japan to track regional ballistic missiles. On Tuesday, September 26, Brigadier General John E. Seward hosted a ceremony at Camp Shariki in the northern Aomori state to activate the X-Band radar. The system was moved earlier this summer from the U.S. military’s Misawa Air Base in Misawa, also in northern Japan. The two nations began working on the radar in 1998 after North Korea fired a Taep’o-dong 1 ballistic missile over northern Japan. The powerful X-band radar can identify objects from thousands of miles away and is designed to differentiate between decoys and real missile warheads. It is part of an ongoing U.S. and Japanese collaboration on missile defense that includes the joint production of sea-based Standard Missile-3 interceptors capable of destroying incoming missiles and the deployment of land-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors around Japan. (Article, Link)
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South Korea Develops New Cruise Missile
September 21, 2006 :: UPI :: News
South Korea has developed a Tomahawk-style cruise missile, reports the UPI. The missile is believed to have a range of approximately 500 km and would be capable of striking almost all of North Korea’s missile sites, including the facility in Musudan-ri from where a set of missiles including a long-range Taepodong-2 was fired in July. The South Korean missile is equipped with a terrain-matching navigation system, as is capable of flying as low as 50 to 100 m to avoid radar detection. According to the South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo, the new missile was developed jointly by the South Korean military and the state-run Agency for Defense Development. Under a 1979 accord with Washington, Seoul is allowed to develop cruise missiles with no restriction on range as long as its payload is less than 500 kg. South Korea plans to produce additional cruise missiles, to be named “Cheon Ryong” (Sky Dragon), within a year or two for ground or submarine deployment. It is also seeking to develop a cruise missile with a range of 1,000 km within five years. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Cruise Missiles, North Korea, South Korea
U.S. Traces North Korean Money to Russia
August 30, 2006 :: Kommersant :: News
Kommersant reports that the U.S. may soon accuse Russia of benefiting financially from North Korea’s missile proliferation. Russian firms may be helping North Korea to develop missile technology, which Pyongyang then sells to nations such as Iran, Syria, and Pakistan. Once the sales are completed, the North Koreans deposit their proceeds in Russian banks. The article hints that Pyongyang may be running out of foreign accounts to store its proliferation proceeds due to U.S. pressure on Vietnam and China to freeze North Korean assets, and therefore has turned to the former Soviet Union. Peter Beck, head of the International Crisis Group, told Kommersant yesterday that Russia is “the last financial refuge for the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea.” Japanese media sources reported last week that North Korea had opened new bank accounts in ten different countries, including Russia, which lends credibility to Beck’s argument.
Kommersant speculates that North Korea may be using the accounts of its embassy in Moscow to transfer funds. If this is true, it means that Pyongyang could be stashing its proliferation proceeds in Vneshtorgbank, which services the diplomatic missions in Moscow. Another possible recipient of North Korean assets is Vneshekonombank, which reached an interstate agreement with North Korea in the mid-1980s and opened “accounts on objects of technical cooperation and military-technical cooperation” with Pyongyang in 1992. Kommersant reports that Vneshekonombank still has several accounts with the Foreign Trade Bank of North Korea. Beck adds that U.S. officials see “a high degree of likelihood” in Russian financial dealing with North Korea, which could further sour relations between the two nations vis-à-vis Iran, a primary benefactor of North Korean missile proliferation. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Iran, North Korea, Proliferation, Russia
Katsumata: U.S. and Japan Need Plan to Defend Against North Korea
August 18, 2006 :: UPI :: News
The U.S. and Japan have surprisingly little coordination in their current ballistic missile defense deployments, reports the UPI. The article quotes Hidemichi Katsumata, who discussed this lack of coordination in the Tokyo newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun on July 14, 10 days after North Korea test launched a salvo of long- and short-range ballistic missiles. “It may come as a surprise to many, but the [Japanese] government does not have plans in place to enable U.S. armed forces and the SDF [Japanese Self Defense Forces] to work jointly to protect the country from a ballistic missile attack,” Katsumata wrote. He recommended that “the [Japanese] government should therefore map out as soon as possible a joint Japan-U.S. strategy to prepare for a possible missile attack. Determining what roles U.S. forces and SDF troops can play, and what they are allowed to do, the government could help to deter North Korea.” (Article, Link)
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North Korea May Be Preparing for Nuclear Test
August 17, 2006 :: ABC News :: News
ABC News reports that North Korea may be preparing an underground nuclear test. According to a senior U.S. military official, “suspicious vehicle movement” has been observed at a suspected North Korean test site. The activity includes the unloading of large reels of cable outside an underground facility called Pungyee-yok in northeast North Korea. Such cables could be used to connect an underground test site to outside observation equipment. “It is the view of the intelligence community that a test is real possibility,” said a senior State Department official quoted by ABC News. North Korea is believed to have enough nuclear material to build as many as a dozen nuclear bombs, although it has never tested one. (Article, Link)
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U.S. to Accelerate Aegis Deployment in Pacific
August 17, 2006 :: Reuters :: News
The Pentagon plans to double its number of Aegis-equipped warships in the Pacific from three to six by the end of 2006, reports Reuters. The move was announced today by Rear Admiral Alan Hicks, program manager for the Aegis ballistic missile defense program. All three new warships will carry the specialized Aegis combat system, as well as Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptor missiles. The UPI notes that Raytheon on Wednesday received a $266 million contract to speed up deployment of the SM-3. The interceptors are capable of shooting down short- and medium-range North Korean missiles, although they are not capable of destroying longer-range threats such as the Taep’o-dong 2. The U.S. and Japan, however, are co-developing an advanced model interceptor, dubbed SM-3 Block 2 and scheduled for deployment by 2015, which will be able to defend against these longer-range missiles. (Article, Link)
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Senators Press China on Iran and North Korea
August 12, 2006 :: Reuters :: News
U.S. senators visiting China have confronted Beijing about its ties with North Korea and Iran, reports Reuters. At a news briefing yesterday, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) said that the senators raised claims that a missile China had sold to Iran was possibly passed onto Hezbollah forces in Lebanon which fired it at an Israeli ship. According to Specter, Chinese officials did not confirm that the missile was Chinese yet also did they deny the claim. “The reply came from one of the representatives that sales were made to a sovereign country and it was under an arrangement, as I said before, that there would not be a resale or a transfer,” he said. Specter added that the senators had also expressed Washington’s belief that China needed to do more to press North Korea to return to the negotiating table. (Article, Link)
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Report: North Korea and Iran Collaborating on Missiles, Using Chinese Technology
August 4, 2006 :: Reuters :: News
North Korea has been working closely with Iran to develop its long-range ballistic missiles, using Chinese technology, according to a recent report by a state-run South Korean think tank. The report was produced by the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, and authored by Yun Deok-min. The collaboration is part of an international network, including Pakistan, that has made it possible for the impoverished North Korea to develop and deploy missiles despite scarce resources and limited testing. Pyongyang is believed to have built two underground missile bases in a mountainside in the central part of its land border with China. The bases “are located in positions that make them impossible to be attacked unless strikes come across the Chinese border, as they are positioned near the Sino-North Korea border and are in the mountainside,” the report said. The report also asserted that North Korea has been constructing new underground missile bases and silos along its east coast to deploy intermediate-range missiles aimed at Japan and U.S. military facilities.
During a Senate hearing last week, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton noted that, “There is, no doubt, a very extensive Chinese cooperation with the Iranian ballistic missile program.” (Article, Link)
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Report: North Korea Building Missile Bases Targeting Japan
August 3, 2006 :: AP :: News
North Korea is building new bases on its east coast, possibly to deploy ballistic missiles against Japan and U.S. forces, according to a state-run South Korean think tank. The report was produced by the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security and authored by Yun Deok-min. “New underground missile bases have been built or are under construction around the border with China and along the east coast,” the report said. “[Those] on the east coast could be seen as bases for medium- or long-range missiles targeting Japan and US military bases in Japan.” The report added that North Korea might plan to deploy Taep’o-dong-2 long-range ballistic missiles at the new bases. (Link)
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Hong Kong Op-Ed: China Will Not Help Disarm North Korea
August 2, 2006 :: The Standard (Hong Kong) :: Analysis
China will not prove helpful in disarming North Korea, writes Liu Kin-ming in Hong Kong’s The Standard. Liu analyzes a recent statement by General Guo Boxiong, vice-chairman of China’s powerful Central Military Commission, following North Korea’s July 5 test launch of seven ballistic missiles. Speaking at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., on July 19, Guo told the audience: “We only learned of North Korea’s missile tests on July 5 through U.S. intelligence broadcast by the media. At that time, I myself and the relevant people in our government were all very surprised. North Korea is a sovereign state. We can’t force it to do or not to do things.” He continued: “Let me be honest with you. What will North Korea do next? China doesn’t know. I also don’t know.” Liu notes that China’s influence over its neighbor could be limited, as evidenced by Pyongyang’s improper treatment of a top-level Chinese delegation just before its July 5 test launch. Liu emphasizes, however, that regardless of whether or not Guo’s statement about relying upon U.S. intelligence and monitoring is true, it shows that China does not plan to be of any help in disarming Pyongyang. “If Guo’s statement is true, Beijing has no influence over Pyongyang,” he writes. “If the statement isn’t true, Beijing thinks the Americans are the worst suckers on earth.” (Article, Link)
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