Japan Media Revels Over Failed ICBM
JULY 31, 2006 03:04
The U.S. and Japanese governments believe that North Korea's Taepodong-2
long-range missile (6,000km) fired on July 5 by North Korea broke up and
fell back to earth just after its launch, according to the Japanese media on
Sunday.
Sources quoted by the Mainichi Shimbun said that Japan`s Defense Agency said
in its analysis report to be announced early August that the missile fell a
few dozen kilometers away from the coast, and concluded it was a complete
failure.
The United States has told Japan that North Korea`s long-range Taepodong-2
missile exploded in midair within 1.5 kilometers of the launching pad, Tokyo
Shimbun reported.
The problem was most likely due to a failure in fine-tuning the missile`s
new type of boosters. Part of the missile fell to the ground and the
remaining part came down in waters off North Korea, the Yomiuri Shimbun
said.
The Japanese government had previously reported that the missile aimed at
the East Sea about 640 kilometers from the launch site, but the government
will reportedly revise the account extensively in the new analysis report.
According to sources, an early warning satellite of the U.S. confirmed that
the booster Taepodong-2 burned for about 40 seconds after being fired on
July 5 at the Musudanri missile base, the northeastern part of the country.
Based on information including combustion detection after the launch and the
initial angle of the launch, the two governments had previously presumed
that the Taepodong-2 would fly about 640 kilometers from the launch site and
fall into the East Sea, about 500 kilometers northwest of Niigata Prefecture
of Japan.
But later, images taken by U.S. military reconnaissance satellites and
Japan's
information gathering satellites disclosed the debris of the Taepodong-2
near the launch site.
Moreover, it was later revealed that the missile flew at too low an altitude
for the radars of U.S. and Japanese Aegis-equipped destroyers to detect the
flight path, proving that it flew for a very short distance.
Sources quoted by the Yomiuri Shimbun said that the Taepodong comprises four
Rodong missiles, each with a range of 1,300 kilometers, as boosters and
another Rodong on top of them.
High technological skills are needed to adjust thrust forces of the boosters
to fly the missile on an exact course.
According to the paper, a Japanese government official said, "The failure of
the Taepodong-2 indicated that North Korea`s missile technology was
immature. It will likely take a long time for North Korea to launch a
Taepodong-2 again."
In the meantime, the Japanese lifted the 24 hour surveillance system which
has been enforced to detect additional missile launches with its
Aegis-equipped warships.
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