PENTAGON WATCHES FOR NORTH KOREAN LONG-RANGE ROCKET LAUNCH

FROM AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE 

Pentagon: U.S. Takes Prospect of North Korea Launch Seriously

By Cheryl Pellerin

WASHINGTON, April 5, 2012 - The Defense Department is closely monitoring the prospect of a long-range rocket launch this month by North Korea, a senior Pentagon official told reporters today.

"The North Koreans will be violating [United Nations] Security Council resolutions if they move ahead with such a launch," said George Little, acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, "and we call on them, as other countries have, not to launch the missile."

A spokesman for the Korean Committee for Space Technology announced March 16 that North Korea would launch a long-range Unha-3 rocket between April 12 and 16.

The rocket would carry a North Korean-made Kwangmyongsong-3 polar-orbiting observation satellite to mark the 100th birthday of the late President Kim Il Sung on April 15.

"This is very serious business when North Korea does something like this," Little said. "We're monitoring it closely. We understand the impact it could have on regional stability."

North Korea tried to launch satellites into space in 1998 and in 2009, but the launches' success has never been confirmed.

"We're working very closely with our Republic of Korea allies as well as our Japanese allies to monitor what's happening with respect to this missile launch," Little said. "We hope it doesn't happen. But if it does, we'll be ready to track it."

If launched, the satellite would travel southward from the Sohae satellite launch station in North Phyongan province's Cholsan County, North Korean officials said in the statement.

"A safe flight orbit has been chosen so that carrier rocket debris to be generated during the flight would not have any impact on neighboring countries," they added.

North Korean officials said they will "strictly abide by relevant international regulations and usage concerning the launch of scientific and technological satellites for peaceful purposes."

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said March 16 that U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874 "clearly and unequivocally prohibit North Korea from conducting launches that use ballistic-missile technology."

"Such a missile launch would pose a threat to regional security," she added, "and would also be inconsistent with North Korea's recent undertaking to refrain from long-range missile launches."

State Department officials are consulting closely with international partners on next steps, Nuland said.

At the Pentagon today, Little said the Defense Department is operating on the assumption that the launch could happen. The North Koreans have indicated that they intend to launch the satellite, he noted.

"They have done so in the past," Little said, "so if history is any guide to the future, we would be remiss if we didn't take those North Korean announcements for what they are."

In terms of U.S. allies in the region who could potentially be affected by the launch, Little said, "we have an unwavering commitment to the security of both Japan and the Republic of South Korea."

Such a launch is unacceptable to the United States and other nations, Little said.

"I believe we have what we need to track [the launch] and to also work closely with our allies in the region to respond," he added.

PLANNED LAUNCH OF MISSILE CAUSES U.S. TO SUSPEND NUTRITION AID TO NORTH KOREA

The following excerpt is form the American Forces Press Service:

Officials Suspend North Korea Nutrition Aid Over Planned Launch

By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 28, 2012 - Concerns that North Korea would resume provocative behavior on the international stage in 2012 have proven true, so the United States has suspended plans to provide nutrition aid to the impoverished nation, senior defense officials told Congress today.

"Our suspicions ... were confirmed when North Korea announced on March 16 that it plans to conduct a missile launch between April 12h and 16," Peter R. Lavoy, acting assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, told members of the House Armed Services Committee. "This grand launch is highly provocative, because it manifests North Korea's desire to test and expand its long-range missile capability."

Army Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, testified alongside Lavoy in a hearing examining the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.

After a series of U.S.-North Korean discussions in late February, the North Korean government agreed to implement a moratorium on long-range missile launches -- then announced plans for the launch just two weeks later, Lavoy explained.

The United States had agreed during the February talks to provide nutritional aid to North Korea. The World Food Program in November 2011 recommended targeted high-nutrition aid as critical to 3 million North Koreans most at risk for starvation.

Lavoy and Thurman both confirmed the United States will not deliver the planned nutrition aid.

"During those discussions, the United States made it very clear that a satellite launch would be a deal-breaker," Lavoy told the panel.

Both men said U.S. officials have worked to "delink" humanitarian aid and political concerns, but defended the decision to suspend nutritional aid.

"The fact that North Korea so brazenly violated commitments that it just so recently agreed to ... indicates that they're not reliable," Lavoy said. "We cannot expect them to meet ... the commitments that they've agreed to that are associated with the provision of nutritional assistance to the needy population in their country.

"It's regrettable that the food aid is not moving forward," he added. "The North Korean population really needs nutritional assistance. And we're prepared to provide that to North Korea."

Thurman said officials are working closely with allies and other partners in the region to try to discourage North Korea from launching the missile. Meanwhile, the general added, "we have been forced to suspend our activities to provide nutritional assistance to North Korea."

Lavoy said the threatened launch would be in direct violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1874, which prohibit North Korea from conducting any launches that use ballistic missile technology.

The launch would involve a North Korean-made Kwangmyongsong-3 polar-orbiting Earth observation satellite to mark the 100th birthday of late President Kim Il Sung, a spokesman for the Korean Committee for Space Technology said in a statement.

The late president's birthday is April 15.

Lavoy said North Korea's authoritarian government, founded by Kim Il Sung and subsequently led by Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un -- his son and grandson, respectively -- seeks to provoke other nations militarily as a means of demonstrating power to its people.

"Political successions are extraordinarily difficult when you don't have a representative government, which is the case there, of course," he noted. Kim Jong Un took power after his father's death in December.

"What we're seeing now and what we anticipate is provocative behavior, because, unfortunately, this seems to be the only way that the North Korean regime can try to demonstrate its bona fides to a population that is suffering terribly," Lavoy added.

Thurman said North Korea's "military first" policy diverts national resources away from food and essential services to the people.

"They maintain the fourth-largest conventional military force in the world, the world's largest special operating force, and significant long-range artillery capabilities," the general said. "Over 70 percent of their combat powers are arrayed within 90 miles of the demilitarized zone."

South Korea, home to some 28,500 forward-based U.S. troops, is "a vibrant democracy, economic success and global security partner, currently serving beside us in Afghanistan and off the Horn of Africa," Thurman said.

"In stark contrast, one of the world's poorest, most closed and
most militarized countries, North Korea, lies less than 20 miles from the northern districts of Seoul, a city of over 24 million people," he added.

The United States and South Korea have for 60 years maintained a close partnership aimed at deterring North Korean aggression and maintaining stability on the peninsula, Thurman noted.

"We are prepared to defend the peninsula and can do that," the general said. "And we can repel any type of attack should the North Koreans decide to do that."