The US military has moved additional defenses to Hawaii in case North Korea launches a missile toward the Pacific island chain, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday.
The decision to deploy missile defense weaponry to the remote US state came as the US military tracked a North Korean ship possibly carrying cargo banned under tougher UN sanctions.
It was the first vessel to be monitored under the UN sanctions imposed on Pyongyang last week after the Stalinist regime carried out an underground nuclear test on May 25.
Gates said Washington was watching North Korea for missile activity and that there were concerns Pyongyang might “launch a missile ... in the direction of Hawaii.”
He said he had approved the deployment of Theatre High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense weaponry to Hawaii and a radar system nearby “to provide support” in case of a possible North Korean launch.
And he said that ground-based defenses in Alaska were also at the ready.
“I would just say I think we are in a good position should it become necessary to protect American territory,” he said.
The THAAD weaponry, coupled with the radar system, are designed to shoot down ballistic missiles.
US and South Korean officials have said North Korea might be readying another ballistic missile test after three previous launches in 1998, 2006 and this year.
Pyongyang said its latest April 5 launch put a satellite into orbit, while the US and its allies labeled it a disguised test of a Taepodong-2 missile theoretically capable of reaching Alaska.
But North Korea has yet to demonstrate it has the ability to build a nuclear warhead that could be fitted onto the tip of one of its ballistic missiles.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been running high after Pyongyang carried out its second nuclear test last month.
A US defense official confirmed that the military was monitoring a flagged North Korean ship that might be carrying nuclear or missile-related cargo in violation of new UN sanctions.
“There is a particular ship that we are closely monitoring,” the defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
The US military had been tracking the ship, the Kang Nam, for “several days now,” said the official.
The ship could provide the first test of the UN Security Council resolution adopted a week ago that bans shipments of arms and nuclear and missile technology to and from North Korea.
Under compromise language favored by China and Russia, the UN resolution calls for inspections of ships but rules out the use of military force to back up the searches.
The sanctions allow for the US Navy and others to ask to inspect North Korean vessels and ships flagged from other countries suspected of carrying banned cargo.
“We intend to vigorously enforce the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874 to include options, to include, certainly, hail and query,” Admiral Mike Mullen, the top US military officer, told reporters at the joint news conference with Gates.
If the ship refuses the search, then the vessel would be directed to a nearby port, Mullen said. “The country of that port ... is required to inspect the vessel and to also keep the United Nations informed, obviously, if a vessel like this would refuse to comply,” he said.
Mullen would not confirm whether the military was tracking a particular North Korean vessel.
The UN resolution calls on member states to inspect ships if there are “reasonable grounds” that a vessel may be carrying illicit cargo.
Analysts say North Korea could get around the shipping measures by transporting banned cargo by air and exploiting provisions that prohibit the use of military force.
However, experts say the financial sanctions in the UN resolution could prove more effective against the isolated Stalinist state.
On Saturday, the North vowed to build more atomic bombs and start enriching uranium for a new nuclear weapons program, in response to the UN sanctions.
The Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun meanwhile reported that Tokyo’s defense ministry believes North Korea might now be planning to launch a two-stage or three-stage Taepodong-2 missile toward Okinawa, Guam or Hawaii.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese