The U.S. state and defense secretaries on Tuesday warned North Korea against a missile test for which the Stalinist country seems to be preparing. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters if North Korea is preparing to test-fire a ballistic missile with the continental United States considered a potential target, then the U.S. could shoot it down. But Gates added, "Since the first time that they launched the missile (in 2006) it flew for a few minutes before crashing, the range of the Taepodong-2 remains to be seen. So far, it's very short."In a separate press conference, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "North Korea has to understand that all of the countries in East Asia have made it clear that its behavior is viewed as unacceptable."
CNN on Tuesday said a U.S. spy satellite snapped an image of North Korea assembling telemetry equipment at its missile launch site in Musudan-ri on the east coast. Citing an anonymous high-ranking U.S. official, CNN reported the same events took place during North Korea's last Taepodong missile launch in October 2006.
An anonymous senior Pentagon official Tuesday that U.S. Pacific Command decided to move battleships to locations capable of monitoring North Korea's activities. The official added the U.S. government was monitoring the latest movements using all military assets.
| Battleships? I think they mean, AEGIS-equipped ships. |