- TOKYO, Japan -- Washington's
ambassador to Tokyo has warned of a possible North Korean missile test
over Japan as part of Pyongyang's bid to ratchet up tension over its nuclear
program.
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- Citing unnamed sources, U.S. Ambassador Howard Baker
said it appears the North Korean provocation was "not over."
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- "We hear reports that they may engage in a missile
test, perhaps overflying the island of Japan," Baker said Monday.
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- However, he said it was unclear what plan the U.S. or
Japan had to counter the test or what reaction they would take.
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- "As to what specific plan would be put into effect
if there's an imminent missile threat against Japan, I simply do not know,"
Baker said.
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- North Korea shocked Japan and alarmed the world in 1998
when it tested a Taepodong missile which flew over Japan's main island.
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- Following that test, Pyongyang declared a self-imposed
moratorium on further launches. But last year, as a dispute with the U.S.
over North Korea's nuclear program blew up, Pyongyang indicated that the
ban might be lifted.
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- North Korean threat
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- Tensions have mounted on the Korean Peninsula since last
October when the U.S. said North Korea admitted to secretly pursuing a
nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 deal.
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- Pyongyang responded by backing out of a nuclear non-proliliferation
treaty earlier this year, kicking out U.N. nuclear monitors and restarting
its mothballed nuclear power plants in a move it says will compensate for
an energy shortfall.
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- Now, with the crisis showing no sign of easing, Tokyo
is becoming increasingly nervous about the threat North Korea poses.
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- "Almost all of major cities of Japan are within
the range of North Korean Nodong missile. So now North Korea can attack
Japan with chemical warheads and Nodong missiles," Hideshi Takesada
from Japan's National Institute for Defense Studies said.
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- "Already they have 5,000 tons of chemical warheads."
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- Those fears have led the Japanese government to draw
up contingency plans on how to deal with a possible North Korean missile
launch.
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- A report in Japan's Yomiuri Shimbuin newspaper on Sunday
said Tokyo would mobilize its forces following a launch if there were signs
other launches would follow.
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- Under the plan, U.S. satellites would monitor North Korean
missile bases. Any signs of a possible launch would prompt Tokyo to demand
Pyongyang call it off. (<http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/02/09/nkorea.japan.reut/index.html>Full
story)
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- Baker said that the U.S. and Japan would likely share
information on any North Korean test, but declined to elaborate.
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- Any strike on Japan not only threatens the world's second
largest economy but also endangers 47,000 U.S. military personnel based
there.
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- Despite a series of international diplomatic efforts,
North Korea has consistently demanded face-to-face talks with Washington
to resolve the crisis.
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- However more diplomacy is underway, with the European
Union preparing for a possible mission to North Korea.
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- EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana met Japanese Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday ahead of a visit to Seoul and, possibly,
Pyongyang.
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- Solana plans to hold talks with leaders there and discuss
ways to defuse the nuclear impasse.
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- Solana said his mission to North Korea depended on the
outcome of an emergency meeting of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency this
week.
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- The International Atomic Energy Agency will hold a board
meeting on Wednesday to decide whether to refer the North Korea issue to
the U.N. Security Council.
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- Should that happen, the Security Council may impose sanctions
on North Korea in an attempt to persuade Pyongyang to drop its nuclear
plans -- North Korea says such a move would amount to a declaration of
war.
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- http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/02/10/nkorea.japan/index.html
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