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Baker Says N. Korea Plans Missile Test NewsMax StaffU.S. Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker said Monday that the North Korean plan to ratchet up the tension was “not over,” noting that he and his staff “hear reports that they may engage in a missile test, perhaps over-flying the island of Japan.” Baker’s new intelligence about the North’s next step in a relentless program of provocation provoked its own recollections of the dictatorship’s launching of a Taepodong missile over the Japanese mainland in 1998. This latest step has been interpreted as another shocking event to gain North Korea the face-to-face talks with Washington that it has been demanding. When asked what the U.S. reaction would be to such a test, Baker said, “I simply do not know,” according to reports by CNN and the Associated Press. So far, the only indication of a possible Japanese response was reported in Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbuin newspaper, which stated that Tokyo would “mobilize its forces” following a launch – with the single proviso that such mobilization would be contingent upon indications that others launches would follow. Such a launching does not come as a complete surprise since Pyongyang is on record that its self-imposed moratorium on missile tests such as the one in 1998 may be lifted in light of the issues it has with the U.S. over its rekindled nuclear program. Baker did indicate that the U.S. and Japan would likely share intelligence on any N. Korean test. As things are now, the U.S. has been monitoring N. Korean missile bases via satellite over-flights. There are about 47,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in harm's way in Japan. Furthermore, “Almost all of major cities of Japan are within the range of North Korean Nodong missile,” commented Hideshi Takesada from Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies. “North Korea can attack Japan with chemical warheads and Nodong missiles -- already they have 5,000 tons of chemical warheads,” Takesada added. Some N. Korea watchers also see a possible link between this latest development and Wednesday’s slated board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency. On that day the agency will decide whether to refer the North Korea nuclear issue to the U.N. Security Council for potential sanctions by that body. N. Korea is on record declaring that sanctions would be considered as tantamount to a declaration of war. Meanwhile, a bid by the European Union to send a crisis-defusing mission to N. Korea may be too little too late by Pyongyang’s timetable. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has declared that his mission to the North would depend on the outcome of Wednesday’s watershed meeting.
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