TOKYO – North Korea continued to rattle its neighbors Thursday by firing four short-range missiles into waters off its east coast.

The missile tests, reported by the South Korean news agency Yonhap, had been widely expected, since North Korea had warned ships to avoid the east coast through July 10 because of military exercises.

South Korean military officials have said that the North may be preparing to launch a number of midrange missiles or a long-range missile in coming days, perhaps to taunt the United States on its Fourth of July holiday.

Tension has been building in Northeast Asia since early spring, when North Korea launched a long-range missile over Japan. In late May it detonated its second nuclear bomb, which prompted a new round of U.N. sanctions and worldwide condemnation, even from the North's historical allies, China and Russia.

In reaction to the sanctions, the government of Kim Jong Il vowed last month that it would never give up nuclear weapons and would begin making a lot more of them, using enriched uranium. Before this threat, the North had repeatedly denied having a program to enrich uranium.

Many analysts attribute North Korea's recent brandishing of hardware and its many warnings of "merciless" war to a succession drama in Pyongyang.

Kim, 67, who suffered a stroke last summer, is believed to be positioning his 26-year-old third son, Jong Un, to take over as leader of the communist state.

North Korea has threatened to launch another long-range missile in the near future. After a Japanese newspaper reported that the North would aim such a missile at Hawaii and would fire it Saturday, the U.S. military increased its defenses around the Hawaiian Islands.

But the missile technology of North Korea demands at least several days of preparation before a long-range launch, and no such preparations have yet been observed, according to media reports.

The Washington Post

Print

Create A Screen Name

Screen names can only consist of letters and numbers.
Your screen name will appear to everyone.
NOTE: You cannot change, delete,
or edit your screen name once you hit "Save".

---

Leave Comment

Having problems seeing comments?

Close

Supported Browsers

• Internet Explorer 7+
• FireFox 3+
• Safari

If you are using Internet Explorer 7, make sure Phishing Filter is turned off by going to Tools / Phishing Filter / Turn Off Automatic Website Checking.

If you are using Internet Explorer 8, make sure InPrivate Filtering is turned off and InPrivate Filtering data has been cleared. To turn off InPrivate Filtering go to Tools / InPrivate Filtering Settings, select the "off" button and click "OK".

To clear InPrivate Filtering data

• Go to Tools / Internet Options
• Click on the "Delete" button in the center of the General tab.
• Make sure "Preserve Favorites website data" is unchecked.
• Make sure "InPrivate Filtering data" is checked
• Click the "Delete" button.
• Click the "OK" button to exit the internet options window.
• Refresh the page

Guidelines: We welcome your thoughts, but for the sake of all readers, please refrain from the use of obscenities, personal attacks or racial slurs. All comments are subject to our terms of service and may be removed. Repeat offenders may lose commenting privileges.

You must be logged in to contribute. Log in | Register Now!

You are logged in as screenname | Log Out

You are logged in, but do not have a "screen" name. Create a Screen Name