North Korea is on the precipice of test-firing a long-range missile capable of reaching the United States. The White House warned that a test firing would trigger "an appropriate response, " like Shock And Awe II.North Korea vowed to bolster its "military deterrent" in a bellicose stream of invective carried by its state news agency.
A test launch of a Taepodong-2 missile-- or whatever new missile they've come up with lately--would inflame a region already in a snit over the North's nuclear weapons program. Our sometime good friends, Japan, in particular, are extremely nervous.
"There are signs" of an imminent missile launch, Jung Tae-ho, a spokesman at the South Korean president's office, told The Associated Press. He said they were "closely watching the situation."
North Korea conducted a test launch in August 1998, but then imposed a moratorium on testing long-range missiles in 1999. White House spokesman Tony Snow said Sunday the United States expect them keep the freeze on. "We do not want to have a missile test out of North Korea," Snow told Fox News Sunday. "The North Koreans themselves decided in 1999 that they would place a moratorium on this kind of testing, and we expect them to maintain the moratorium."
"If they go ahead with a test, then we will have to respond properly and appropriately at the time," Snow told CNN's "Late Edition." When asked to explain exactly what that meant, Snow replied, "No."
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