Hawai'i possibly within range of North Korea missile
By Barbara Demick
Los Angeles Times
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea is preparing to deploy a new missile that could reach Guam and possibly Hawai'i, South Korean newspapers reported this week.
The North has been trying for years to develop ballistic missiles that could reach the United States. The reports suggest the North has made more progress than thought, an alarming development because the regime may have nuclear bombs.
The reports cited unnamed South Korean officials saying that a U.S. intelligence satellite recently picked up evidence of two new missile bases under construction in North Korea. Missiles and mobile launching pads at the sites were said to be of a design that did not resemble North Korea's Rodong missiles.
The Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted a high-ranking South Korean official as saying that the missile is likely to have a range of at least 1,800 to 2,500 miles, making it capable of reaching Guam and Okinawa; and because it can be launched from a vehicle, it might possibly be able to reach Hawai'i. Honolulu is about 4,500 miles from North Korea.
"I believe this is an entirely new missile," said Kim Tae -woo, an expert on the North Korean military at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul. He said there was no evidence that North Korea had test-fired the new missile, but that the building of bases suggests the North Koreans are confident enough of its accuracy to be preparing to deploy it.
The South Korean Defense Ministry and the U.S. Embassy in Seoul refused to comment.
North Korea's new missile bases reportedly were first detected late last year and early this year and are said to be 70 percent to 80 percent complete.
One is in Yangdok, 50 miles east of Pyongyang, and the other in Hochon in North Hamgyong province.
North Korea's best-known missile is the Rodong, which has a range of 810 miles, making it capable of reaching most of Japan.
In 1998, the North test fired a long-range missile called the Taepodong I into the Pacific Ocean. But that missile is considered to be in the development stage, as is the Taepodong II, a missile with a range of more than 4,000 miles.
"There is a lot of speculation about North Korea's efforts to build missiles that could reach the United States, but there is no evidence that they've achieved that yet," said Hong Yong-pyo, a missile expert at Hanyang University in Seoul.
Kim suggested that neither the South Korean nor the United States had been eager to publicize news of the latest missile bases for diplomatic and political reasons.
"Washington doesn't want to see anything shocking like this come out before the presidential election. The South Korean government usually keeps silent about what North Korea is doing," Kim said.
