North Korea Test-Fires Missiles on Fourth of July
CNN International reports that North Korea fired seven missiles (310 mile-range) toward the Sea of Japan on July 4. Last month, Japan’s Coast Guard reported that North Korea banned ships from its coast by a wide range, fueling speculation that the rogue state was preparing to launch more missiles. North Korea test-fired four short-range missiles last week and at least five short-range missiles last month. The country also conducted a nuclear test. South Korea says North Korea has about 700 short-range missiles similar to the ones fired during the weekend.
Last week, the Washington Times reported that the U.S. was prepared to intercept a long-range Taepodong-2 missile if our territory was in its sights. North Korea has been threatening to launch the missile for a while. Has the time arrived?
Air Force General Victor E. “Gene” Renuart said, “The nation has a very, very credible ballistic-missile defense capability. Our ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California, I’m very comfortable, give me a capability that if we really are threatened by a long-range ICBM that I’ve got high confidence that I could interdict that flight before it caused huge damage to any U.S. territory.”
The general also said North Korea was unpredictable. The rogue state backed off on a veiled threat to attack Hawaii with the Taepodong-2, but the U.S. is ready to respond either way. Our country has been testing the Theater High-Altitude Area Defenses in Hawaii in preparation for a Taepodong-2 attack.
Tags: North Korea, Taepodong-2