North Korea May Launch Taepo Dong-2 Missile On Saturday, Perhaps Toward Hawaii: Reports

U.S. missile defense systems very likely can demolish any missile that North Korea launches to hit U.S. territory, said Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Mullen, the highest-ranking uniformed member of American armed forces, said he is "very confident" that missile defense systems could protect the United States from a North Korean missile.

His comments to Fox News Channel came as North Korea is poised to launch yet another long-range missile, perhaps on Saturday, or in a window from last Thursday to July 10.

The North also threatened to bolster its nuclear weapons arsenal to counter what it alleged were U.S. and South Korean moves placing nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula. However, both South Korea and the United States have said repeatedly they have no nukes in the South, The Canberra Times noted.

Further, Pyonyang threatened to shoot down any Japanese spy plane entering North Korean airspace.

And a U.S. Navy destroyer is trailing after a North Korean ship suspected of taking nuclear weapons or other contraband to Myanmar, formerly called Burma. The United States decided not to forcibly board the ship, after Pyongyang said that would be an act of war.

If the North slings a missile toward Hawaii next weekend, it would be the second launch of a Taepo Dong-2 missile this year. The previous attempt April 5 saw the missile travel some 2,000 miles on the thrust of the first and second stages, and the missile would have gone about 4,000 miles had the third stage not failed. Even with that glitch, the performance in the test this year was far advanced from a July 4, 2006, attempt that ended in failure seconds after the missile rose from the launch pad.

And that marked progress concerns Mullen.

The Taepo Dong-2 has potentially the range to reach U.S. soil, and that is why the United States has developed and stood up a multilayered missile defense system, Mullen said.

Even though some part of the Taepo Dong-2 has failed in each test, it also is true that North Korean experts have learned from each launch and improved the missile, Mullen noted.

That means U.S. missile defense systems are needed to block any incoming weapon, since North Korea seems unwilling to reenter six party talks and voluntarily surrender its nuclear weapons and its missiles.

The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), or National Missile Defense, system is in place in Alaska and California. It is the only currently operational U.S. system able to obliterate incoming enemy long-range or intercontinental ballistic missiles, with the GMD specifically conceived as a shield against North Korean weapons.

However, Mullen and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have testified in favor of a budget plan where only 30 GMD interceptors will be emplaced in ground silos, instead of the earlier expected 44, and some in Congress are voting to endorse that move. (Please see full stories in this issue.)