US prepared for missiles

2009-07-02 22:09

Washington - The United States is prepared to intercept any North Korean long-range missile as Pyongyang tested international patience further with new launches, a top US military commander said on Thursday.

"The nation has a very, very credible ballistic-missile defence capability," General Victor "Gene" Renuart, the top US commander in North America, told The Washington Times.

"I’m very comfortable with our ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California.

“I’m confident that we could intercept missiles with our weapons”.

His comments came as South Korean military officials said Pyongyang test-fired four short-range missiles earlier on Thursday, further fueling tension sparked by its nuclear standoff with the international community.

Scenario


It was the first military action by the hard-line communist state since the United Nations on June 12 imposed tougher sanctions for its May 25 nuclear test.

Like Renuart, President Barack Obama had given assurances in June that the United States was "fully prepared" for a potential North Korean missile launch toward US territory.

Washington has said it was not excluding the possibility of a North Korean missile launch toward Hawaii on or around July 4, the US Independence Day, but the Pentagon has since expressed doubts about the scenario.

Thursday's North Korean missile launches came as a US delegation met Chinese officials in Beijing for talks on giving more teeth to UN sanctions imposed in June after the Stalinist state carried out an underground nuclear test on May 25, its second nuclear test since 2006.

- SAPA