After Missiles, Calls Go Out

a U.S. drive for tough sanctions against North Korea encountered immediate obstacles. In his first comments about the controversy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said concern about the missile tests should not trigger an emotional response that would "drown out common sense."

China and Russia favor a less confrontational approach, proposing the passage of a mild, nonbinding Security Council statement urging North Korean restraint. Chinese and Russian officials argue that a 1998 crisis -- which was triggered by the unannounced launch of a North Korean satellite that U.S. officials mistook for a missile -- was resolved with a Security Council statement urging Pyongyang to notify key states when it planned a launch. The situation has also been complicated because of worsening relations between the United States and Russia, and Putin does not appear to be of a mind to be too accommodating to the Bush administration right now, foreign policy experts believe.

A conservative Japanese paper has reported that Hawaii was the target according the Guardian.

Japan's conservative mainstream daily Sankei

said thatJapanese and U.S. defense officials have concluded that the Taepodong-2 had targeted the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, after analyzing data collected from their intelligence equipment.

The officials decided that the missile was pointed at Hawaii from its angle immediately after launch and the altitude it reached, after analyzing data collected by destroyers equipped with the Aegis radar combat system and RC-135S electronic reconnaissance aircraft, the newspaper said.

It said the findings support a belief North Korean intended the launch as a protest over U.S. economic sanctions against the isolated regime.

But Pentagon officials said Thursday that the brief flight of the Taepodong-2 missile made it difficult to collect useful technical data, including its intended target, its payload and whether it was a two-stage or three-stage missile.

Some U.S. officials were even leaning toward the theory that it was configured as a space launch to deliver a satellite into orbit, rather than as a flight test of a ballistic missile.

Japanese Defense Agency refused to confirm the Sankei report.

I'm getting the idea that the Sankei is like the Washington Times. 

tags: bush  missile  japan  boogie men  north korea  

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