Inouye: Missile
shows need for
ABM net

Pyongyang's test shot
over Japan raises some alarm
for Hawaii, Alaska

By Mike Yuen
Star-Bulletin

North Korea's test firing of a missile that soared over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean yesterday underscores the need for Hawaii and Alaska to be included in an anti-ballistic missile system that the Clinton administration is proposing, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye said today.

Hawaii and Alaska should be afforded the same sort of security that the 48 contiguous states would be given under the proposal, said Inouye, a ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

"I hope the North Koreans realize that this act is rather provocative," Inouye added.

Another isle Democrat, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, a member of the House National Security Committee, said that theoretically and technically, North Korea has the capability to hit Hawaii.

"But they don't have the financial capacity to build a missile fleet, if you will. The likelihood of a missile (aimed at Hawaii) at this point is in question," added Abercrombie, who said he has been briefed about the missile firing.

Inouye's and Abercrombie's remarks came after Pyongyang fired a new Taepodong 1 two-stage missile over Japan about 6 p.m. yesterday (Monday in Japan). The medium-range missile, still under development, is believed to have a reach of up to 1,200 miles -- nearly twice that of an earlier missile tested in 1993.

Like Inouye, Army Col. Richard Bridges, a Defense Department spokesman in Washington, said the North Korean missile test had been expected and was monitored by U.S. intelligence. He told Reuters the second stage of the liquid-fuel missile, the first two-stage ballistic missile ever tested by Pyongyang, passed over Japan and landed in the open Pacific Ocean.

The test firing, Abercrombie said, appears to be more a tactical maneuver by North Korea in its bilateral talks with the United States over a range of issues, including a 1994 nuclear agreement between the two countries.

North Korea, which has suffered food shortages, could also want foreign aid from the United States, Abercrombie said.

One of the stumbling blocks in the talks, held in New York in recent days, is for North Korea to suspend missile development in exchange for nuclear energy know-how.

"What they really want is aid and assistance now," Abercrombie said. "That's what this thing is aimed at. We're quite willing to work with them on that. But you're dealing with a closed society in which the interpretations which would seem obvious to us are not apparent to them."

It is highly unlikely that the North Koreans fired the ballistic missile as a signal that it could possibly hit Hawaii.

"It's hard to conceive under what circumstances they would see this as an advantage to North Korea," Abercrombie said. He doubted that "the military option" is something that the North Koreans would exercise soon.

Inouye said the North Korean test means that U.S. Pacific forces must "stand strong at all times."

The test raised concerns in Tokyo and Washington about missile advances by communist North Korea and the prospect such missiles might be sold to other nations.