The US military has moved additional defences to Hawaii in case North Korea launches a missile towards the Pacific island chain, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday.
- Gates said he had approved the deployment of The Theatre High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defence weaponry to the US state and radar "to provide support" in case of a possible North Korean launch.
- THAAD weaponry, coupled with the radar system, are designed to shoot down ballistic missiles.
- And he said that ground-based defences in Alaska were also at the ready.
- "We do have some concerns if they were to launch a missile... in the direction of Hawaii.I would just say I think we are in a good position should it become necessary to protect American territory" Gates told a news conference.
- On Saturday, the North vowed to build more atomic bombs and start enriching uranium for a new nuclear weapons programme, in response to the UN sanctions.
- The Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun meanwhile reported that Tokyo's defence ministry believes that North Korea might now be planning to launch a two-stage or three-stage Taepodong-2 missile towards either Japan's Okinawa island, Guam or Hawaii.
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U.S. Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS John S. McCain - The U.S. military is planning to intercept a flagged North Korean ship suspected of proliferating weapons material in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution passed last Friday, FOX News has learned.
- The USS John McCain, a navy destroyer, will intercept the ship Kang Nam as soon as it leaves the vicinity off the coast of China, according to a senior U.S. defense official. The order to inderdict has not been given yet, but the ship is getting into position.
- The ship left a port in North Korea Wednesday and appears to be heading toward Singapore, according to a senior U.S. military source. The vessel, which the military has been tracking since its departure, could be carrying weaponry, missile parts or nuclear materials, a violation of U.N. Resolution 1874, which put sanctions in place against Pyongyang.
- Courtesy: Channel News Asia, Politics, Fox News
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